Ash x MLP Season 1
by marc1986
Summary: In this tale Ash travels to a strange land to help deal with their kind of evil.
1. Chapter 1

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is from Hasbro

Prologue

Stranger in a strange land

A young boy had returned to his home after another long journey of trying to accomplish his ultimate goal. The main thing that he wished to do was to enjoy some time away from his chosen field before starting it up again, but as he did that a new adventure was already on it's way. "A strange cave was discovered around Laramy Ranch." An elderly gentleman said as he was reading the newspaper in his study.

"Isn't that the same ranch where Ash won that race with a Rapidash?" The assistant to the older man questioned while putting away some research books.

"The very same." He answered back before adding, "Hmm, I wonder if he would be up for a little side-quest before going to the Unova Region with me?" He tried to think of the answer before the former traveling buddy spoke again.

"Knowing Ash, he would be thrilled to help you, Professor Oak." The younger man said with a smile after putting away the last of the books.

"Thank you, Tracey." Oak answered back before hearing his phone go off. "I wonder who that can me. I'm not expecting any phone calls today." The researcher stated before going to the device. "Oh, hello there." He said after recognizing the face, and began to chat to the person. Back at a average house was the helper in question.

"Another great round of Blueberry waffles, mom." The raven haired youth shouted with joy as he gave a red head his plate, again.

"I'm glad you like it dear. Are you ready for your sixth?" The mother to the glutton questioned with a smile on her face. Before an answer could be made there was a knock on the door.

"It's open." The male human said while glancing at his yellow furred chum who seemed to be ready in case it was another villain. The door opened, and all were happy to see that it was Professor Oak.

"Good Morning, Ketchum family." The man said to all with a wave of the hand.

"Good Morning, Professor Oak." The two of them said as they were happy to see a familiar face.

"Would you like some Breakfast, Professor?" The mother questioned in a polite tone.

"No thank you, Delia. I ate before coming here." He explained in his own polite tone so as to not hurt her feelings. "Actually the reason I am visiting is because a cave has been discovered in Laramy Ranch." He explained and saw that the location in question caught the young boy's interest.

'I haven't been there in a while.' Ash thought with a smile on his face.

"I was wandering if Ash would like to accompany me here, and check it out." The researcher said to the older woman.

"Can I go with him, mom? Can I?" Ash questioned with a pleading look in his eyes. The mother could only smile since she knew that her descendent was always up for an adventure.

"Of course, Ash. I know Professor Oak will watch over you." Delia said back with a smile before looking at the researcher and added, "When will you be going?" The man thought of it for a moment until an adequate time came to him.

"About an hour. That's all I need to get my things ready." Samuel Oak said back before looking at all four of their reactions.

"Sounds good. Pikachu and I will be there." The Pallet Town protector said back before going back to the Breakfast plate that was set before him.

"Pika!" The yellow rodent cheered out which translated to, 'yay!' since he could not wait to see Rapidash again. With nothing else to say the five said their good-byes and went on their ways. Once the hour passed Ash and Pikachu said good-bye to Mr. Mime and mother before heading to Oak's home.

"I hope Lara's been doing okay since we last seen her." Ash said to his fuzzy buddy as they got past the gate, and made it to the front door.

"Hey, Ash, good to see ya." Tracey said as he opened the door to the person that knocked on it. Ketchum was happy to see his old traveling buddy, and shook his hand before entering. "Professor Oak is just finish packing his pack; he should be down any moment." The sketch artist explained, so the two decided to wait in the Living Room for their friend.

"Hello, Ash, I'm sorry that I'm late." Oak said as he entered the Living Room to see the two visitors taking a nap on one of the chairs. They woke with a start before seeing the man that invited them over.

"No problem, Professor. We're ready to go whenever you are." The young boy said after a good stretch. "So, how are we going to get over there. It took Misty, Brock and I a couple of months to get there on foot." Ash stated to one of his mentors. This brought a smile to the man's face.

"Simple. We will get a ride from an old friend." Oak answered back which confused his companions. The older gentleman decided to clarify by walking outside, and threw a Pokeball into the air. "Now, come on out." He stated white tossing. The inhabitant left the sphere.

"Pikachu?" The rodent questioned at the sight of the creature before him. The comment was simply, "Is that you?" Ash was also feeling a nostalgic vibe from that bird.

"Can you really be?" Ash asked as well, and was answered by a hug by both of the wings. "It really is you, Pidgeot!" He cheered before returning the gesture. A few moments into the hug they separated, hopped aboard, and headed off to the Ranch.

"It seems your Pidgeot had gotten a lot faster since he protected the Pidgey and Pidgeotto from that Fearow." Oak pointed out as they were already in the Ranch's airspace. The big bird landed and let his passengers get off. "Here Ash, keep hold of this." Samuel stated as he tossed the returned creature to the human.

"Are you sure, Professor?" Ash asked as he looked at the ball in hand. The Pokemon Trainer got a nod as his answer, so he shrank the sphere and put it back on his belt. 'Welcome back.' The human thought before hearing a loud neigh coming at them.

"Ash!" A female from the horse shouted with joy. "I heard that you were coming over. I missed you!" The female ranch girl shouted as she dismounted and gave the hero a big hug. To show its affection the horse lapped at his head.

"Lara. Rapidash. It's great to see you again." The Pallet Town protector said as he was just as happy to see these two faces. After that greeting Lara decided to get to work.

"Professor Oak, my mother is waiting for you at home." The blue haired girl said and chauffeured the two men, and Electric Pokemon to the barn. Once the group got there they were greeted by an older woman and man.

"Hello. I am Lance Laramy and this is my wife, Lana Laramy, and of course you have already met my daughter Lara Laramy." A raven haired man informed the two Pallet Town participants.

"So, you are the boy that helped evolve my girl's Ponyta?" The mother questioned before getting up off of her chair to get a closer look at the Trainer. "I can tell that there is something special about you." The woman said after she completed her investigation.

"Onto more important matters. I'm sure you've heard about the cave Professor Oak?" Lance questioned after they all sat down to have some tea and Pokemon food.

"That's right, but I have a feeling that there's more to it?" Oak questioned back.

"There is. After the media was done spreading my little discovery to the four corners of the globe I went down a bit deeper than the reporters wanted to, and saw that the one tunnel divides into five." The father owner of the Ranch explains to the researcher and the hero.

"I'd really want to check that out!" Ash exclaimed since this visit had really heated up. "Can we, Mister Laramy?" He asked and watched as the one in question looked at the clock on their fireplace.

"Considering that it's only 1 in the Afternoon I don't see the harm. If only for a quick look around." The father of the horse rider said with his index finger and thumb in the traditional thinking pose.

"You mean it? Alright!" The energetic youth cheered with great joy.

"Pika Pika!" The volt based one cheered which translated to, "A new adventure!" It was then the elder man of the group decided to stop them.

"A moment Ash. I have a surprise for you." Oak said causing all of them to turn their attention to him. Oak them pulled out several Pokeballs from his own backpack.

"Why did you bring all them Pokeballs?" Lara questioned since she believed empty spheres weren't going to help them with this adventure.

"There are mostly for Ash. And now I will show why." The researcher explained before throwing all of them into the air. In that moment they all opened to reveal several creatures Ash hasn't seen in a while.

"How? How are all of you here?" Ash asked as he looked at the ones that made his journey truly memorable. Oak had placed two more gifts into Ketchum's pack before answering.

"Before going to your home I was phoned by all of your friends: Liza, Officer Jenny, Casey, Primeape's trainer, Sabrina decided that you deserved a little visit to the creatures that you gave to them." Oak explained as Muk gave the Trainer a big, oily hug.

"That was nice of them, but what about the others?" Ash said as he tried to free himself from his slim based friend.

"After hearing that I decided that the ones in my Lab deserved that same treatment, and it was also a good time to show that one of your Pokemon has grown stronger." The researcher explained before gesturing over to the large dragon standing along side Charizard.

"Gible?! You've evolved all the way to Garchomp!" Ash shouted as he finally saw the 6 ft 3in creature.

"Yes, yes I have." He answered back in his native tongue.

"It was only a sheer coincident that Pidgeot, Butterfree, and Lapras found their way to you." Oak explained to the sight of the two other wild ones who were eagerly nuzzling their faces against both sides of his face.

"Thank you all for coming." Ash said as he beckoned them all back to their Pokeballs. It was at that time Ketchum recalled a slight wrinkle in this little plan. "Wait a minute. A Pokemon Trainer can only have up to six Pokemon accompanying them, right?" The hero questioned back, and wondered what the big idea was.

"Ordinarily, yes, but since this is only an exploration trip I disabled that safety protocol of the Pokeballs. Don't get used to that freedom, young man, because before we go to Unova I will reactive that safety feature. I only did it for now so you can enjoy the company of all of your friends." The friend of the family explained causing the human to become even more excited.

"Thank you Professor Oak! Thanks a lot!" Ash shouted out as he began to shake his friend's hand with a great grip. The father of the race horse rider decided to speak up.

"Not that I'm happy Ash has all of his friends. Believe me - I'm proud of you, but didn't we all decide to check out the caves that run all over under the Ranch." Lance said to the others causing the group to snap back to that stated task.

"Oh, quit right. Shall we be heading off?" Oak questioned to the group since he was still very much intrigued by this strange cave system under their feet. Ketchum then recalled all of his creatures and stuffed most of them in his backpack, but kept four more on his belt, and followed the others out the door.

'I wonder if there are any Pokemon inside that cave?' Ash thought as he recalled his missed opportunity to capture any Pokemon back in Mount Moon. "Sorry I didn't ask this sooner, but how's your arm Lara?" Ash asked as they kept walking to the spot in question.

"Just fine Ash. Thank ya kindly for askin." The country girl replied back with a smile since she did like that caring side to this boy. Soon the group made it to the entrance, and made it to the division section.

"There are five tunnels and there are five of us, so we'll each take one." The father said, and had faith that no one was in any real danger…even though he hasn't been in any of them himself.

"Perhaps we should remain in contact with one another with out Pokegear?" The Professor questioned while pulling out the device in question from his pocket.

"Actually I tried that same device, and it can't breach passed these stone walls for some reason." The discoverer explained before adding, "So, instead how about we all come back to this spot in about an hour or so, and tell the others what was in their tunnel?" After giving it some thought the Kanto researcher spoke again.

"That sounds like a splendid idea." Oak replied. With nothing else to say the group picked a flashlight and a tunnel and headed out. Ash and Pikachu kept glancing to a fro for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing…until he shined his light on the right side of his tunnel.

"What are those?" The Pokemon Trainer questioned as he walked over to the wall and saw unknown scratch marks on the wall of stone. Both of them soon realized that they were not just scratches but hieroglyphs of some nature. "Kinda wish Brandon was here to help decipher them." Ketchum commented while unconsciously rubbing his finger tips over the markings.

"What are you doing?! Don't you remember the Dark King possessing you moment?" Pikachu exclaimed to his friend after smacking the back of the human's head with his tail.

"Come on. I'm only seeing if these are real, and there's no harm in that." The human said back to the Pokemon after guessing that the comment was a warning of sorts. Unknown to either of them Ash's aura came to his finger tips, and after stroking the right glyphs something happened.

"Now you've done it!" Pikachu exclaimed as the wall started to shake, but instead of collapsing the long stone slab slid downward which revealed a strange object. The object on the other side of the wall was a portal of warm colors.

"That portal seems nice enough. I have an idea. I'll go take a look; you wait here." Ash explained in an almost hypnotic tone before walking toward it. The smaller creature saw this and tried pulling on his pant leg - no luck, so the Pokemon tried pushing on the front of his pant leg, and that too ended in defeat.

'Good bye cruel world.' The rodent thought since he had given up and decided to accept his fate. A few moments later the electrical one heard a voice.

"Huh? Where are we? Where's the cave?" Ash questioned as he felt his head clearing up from that strange feeling that over took him. The trainer than looked around, and did not recognize anything.

'Guess we're not dead.' The best non-human friend of the hero thought before hearing the roar of Ash's stomach.

'Hungry again?' Ash thought before patting his stomach. His traveling partner could only sigh in aggravation before catching a strong scent. "Where are you going, Pikachu? Ash questioned when he saw his fuzzy buddy run off.

"I smell food!" The Electric creature called out as he ran to the source of the scent. Having faith that his oldest friend knew what he was doing the human followed after him. This caused them to stop before a farm of sorts which confused the both of them.

"I've never seen this farm before?" Ash commented while seeing that there only seemed to be apple trees as far as the eye can see. The two ventured further past the white fence and into the property. "Man, these apples look so good." Ketchum commented as he heard his stomach rumble again.

'Maybe a quick nibble.' The tamed beast thought as he climbed up a tree, and was about to snatch one until someone stopped him.

"No, Pikachu. After the grapefruit incident with Snorlax and the apple incident with the Pichu you should know that stealing is wrong." His human partner commented causing the creature to grumble something that Ash did not catch. As the taller traveler began to think of how to eat without necessarily breaking the law his friend picked up on a conversation.

"I don't know. They don't seem like bad critters." A young voice said to someone else.

"I just don't trust `em. Who knows what they want. You agree that they might be up to no good, Big Macintosh." A older female voice questioned another.

"Yep." The third voice answered back casually, and with that the conversation ended. The rodent had to guess that the voices were the owners of this farm, and fled into the barn when they saw them coming.

"I've got it!" The citizen of Pallet Town shouted in enthusiasm which caused his partner to look over in his direction. "I'll write a note simply saying that we will pay back for the apples in what ever way we can." The human said as he pulled a pad and pencil from his front pockets, something he often carried when there was no gym to beat or Pokemon to meet, and wrote said note before setting it on the ground in front of a tree.

"So, I guess it's okay for me to pick a couple." Pikachu whispered to himself and was about to use Iron Tail to cut a couple down his partner stopped him again.

"Since we're not sure if who ever owns this land would be cool of us taking their profit we better just stick with one." Ash said causing the rodent to pick one, and with enough muscle popped it in two.

'Sometimes you can be a real buzz-kill.' The yellow furred one thought before tossing one half to the human, and began to eat the other half. Both knew that the one half of an apple won't stall his hunger for long, but he had to be fair to whoever owned this farm.

"Come on. We better check out more of this place." Ash said causing his fuzzy buddy to jump off of the branch and onto his shoulder. With nothing else to say the two decided to venture into another area, and hope someone would help them out.

"I still think this town is abandoned." Pikachu explained after they had been looking around for an hour with zero results. The human did not believe that one bit; especially when he used his power of aura, still in training, to see faint images of creatures within the buildings.

"I doubt it's deserted Pikachu." The mortal explained and then went deeper by adding, "The ground is well kept along with the houses are in perfect condition." This the rodent could not deny, but the question remained - where was everybody.

"Whoever those two are they better think twice of pulling something in Ponyville." A voice muttered aloud while hiding in an unusual spot. The location was noticed by the smaller one.

'Is that normal behavior for a cloud around here?' The unknown creature thought since there was a small cloud following them; in fact it had been following them since they walked into town.

"Maybe that building over there might help." Ash said as he completely ignored the low hanging cloud as he headed to a rather large building. When the two looked through the window they saw that there were outfits on strange mannequins. "Strange. That looks like a Ponyta, but I haven't heard any Pokemon, and you haven't heard any." Ash commented before walking away from the building to look somewhere else.

"What an atrocious outfit." A person from the other side of the glass stated as she watched the creature walked away, and could only gave the taller one with disgust. By this time Pikachu decided to stand on his own feet just to see the town from his perspective.

"I wonder why Ponyville is so silent. Don't tell me that strange pony is here." A nearly silent voice stated as it came closer into town. The citizen looked around and did not see any of her friends, but did spot something most fascinating. "Wow! What is that!" The creature shouted in enthusiasm before rushing over to the small mammal.

"Did you hear something, Pik-." Ketchum tried to say but suddenly felt the ground leave his sneakers, and meet up with his backpack.

"I've never seen anything like you before." A cream/pink colored horse said with a look of awe in her eyes. Well versed in the way of looky-loos the small creature was not alarmed by the attention, but remained calm.

"Want to be friends?" The yellow one questioned with an outstretched hand.

"Of course. I would love to be your friend." The young horse, who was now a little of the ground thanks to the wings, answered back. It was at this time the taller of the two rested most of his weight on his elbows to see what was going on.

'A winged horse? Now that is really odd.' The human thought as he saw the two talking, and was about to interrupt when a voice was heard from behind him.

"You're a strange looking one." The voice said in a strangely energetic tone which Ash looked over his shoulder to see that it was a bright pink pony from the fur to the mane, and even the tail.

"Yes, I suppose I am." The human responded before rising to his feet. "Listen my friend and I are new around her and…" Ash said but stopped since the creature he was speaking with ran away. "That was odd." Ash commented before walking over to the only other horse around. "And who might you be?" He asked in a polite tone.

"EEK!" The creature shouted in fright before hiding behind the rodent. This was a reaction that Ash did not expect so he decided to correct it.

"Sorry if I scared you, but my friend and I come in peace." Ash explained himself after kneeling down to talk to the creature near eye level. The human than offered his hand out to offer the creature a handshake to show that he was sincere.

'It looks like he's telling the truth.' The pony thought before looking down at the yellow one who nodded in agreement. She was about to accept his offer until a voice shrieked out.

"I'm back!" The plucky voice called out causing the three to turn to the source and saw that it was the pink one again, but this time she was carrying a wagon of sorts. "This is my Welcome Wagon! To give you two a warm welcome two to Ponyville!" The creature called out to the two new comers.

"So, that's the name of this place." Ash muttered to himself before realizing that the wagon was now open, and he was hit by confetti from the oven looking device.

'Crap!' Pikachu thought in alarm as he saw some sort of cream colored goo come out of the party cannons, and fly high into the air. Already knowing where that was headed the small creature bolted into his friend's backpack and waited.

"Pikachu? What's…." Ash questioned, but could not finished as he was soon covered in goo.

"Oh no. It looks like I accidentally put the confetti in the oven and the cake mix in the confetti cannons again." The pink one said as she too was covered in the batter. To the human's amazement she sped out of the mix, with it still holding form, and ate it in one gulp.

"No worries. I'm alright." Ash said before going for his belt, and threw a ball into the air. "Quilava, I choose you." The taller one called out, and after a nearly blinding white light the two ponies saw a long cream/green colored creature with a flame on its head and butt.

"Do you need some-." The creature tried to speak in his native tongue, but started to bust a gut when he saw his partner covered in goo.

"Are you finished?" Ash asked calmly after ten minutes of endless laughter, and it was then the loyal fire creature stopped, and became series. "Okay. I need you to use Flamethrower, but keep it small and steady." Ash explained, and the creature nodded in agreement.

'I sure hope you know what your doing.' The fire type thought before doing as he was told. The sight before them shocked the two ponies in sight along with the ones that were peeking through their doors and windows.

'Wow, that little guy is doing great. The batter is coming out nice and even.' The pink one thought in awe.

'I sure hope those two are okay in the blaze.' The cream/pink pony thought with worry. Within the cake Ash felt fine as if he was in a sauna, but his old friend was in serious pain due to all of the Pokeballs he was sitting on were becoming warm with the fire.

"That's good, Quilava." Ash called out from within his cake prison, and in a heroic style - broke free from it. As soon as he did the electrical one leapt out of his suffocating steam room.

"Air. Glorious air!" The rodent cheered out after getting out of the pack, and began to cool down. Ash on the other hand began petting his fire fueled friend for a job well done.

"Good job, Quilava." Ketchum said before picking up a piece of his cocoon. "Here, you deserve this." He added which the creature took happily. The hero then offered his prison to Pikachu, and the two locals as well. After this display of generosity the two knew that this man was good.

"Every-pony! Every-pony! This guy is okay!" The one in pink shouted loudly causing all the windows and doors to open wide, and creatures either stuck their heads out their windows or they actually walked outside.

'Starting to see why it was named Ponyville.' Ash thought as he looked around and saw that everyone of them were pony types. The that the boy could only assume was in charge walked up to him.

"On behalf of everyone here. I welcome you to Ponyville." The leader of the small town explained.

"Thank you. My name is Ash Ketchum and these are my friends: Pikachu and Quilava." The taller creature explained while pointing the right ones out. The mayor then decided to do the same with everyone around them. He heard and tried to commit the names to memory.

"And finally there are the two that welcomed you, but I'll let them introduce themselves." The leader of the small town explained before gesturing over to the two in question.

"I'm Pinkie Pie. Pleased to meet you!" She exclaimed happily while shaking the human's hand vigorously.

"Nice to meet you too." He answered back while gently removing her hoof, but she made up for that by saying hello to the other two. The Trainer then decided to turn his attention that welcomed his friend with open…hooves. "And you might be?" He asked politely.

"Fluttershy." The girl said below a whisper.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Ash asked in a calm tone since he suspected a shyness after the way she reacted when he approached her.

"Fluttershy." The creature answered a bit louder, and this time he did hear her.

"It suits you." The Pallet Town person said in a complimenting fashion, and it was at this time Pikachu saw four more horses coming over. The monster tamer saw them, and became concerned, but had a gut feeling he knew who they were. "I'm guessing you are the ones in charge of that farm we visited?" He asked the four and waited for some sort of reply.

"Sure am. Name's Apple Jack. This here is my brother Big Macintosh. My little sister Apple Bloom, and my granny: Granny Smith. And you're the one who ate one of our apples." The orange/yellow one said to the visitor.

"And if you four read my note then I am willing to do what ever you want to pay for it." Ash said to them which confused the four since they were willing to let it pass since it was only one apple, and the two did seem hungry, but he seemed serious about it.

"If you are serious about paying us back. Follow us youngster." The green coated elder said to Ash. The human issued for his two friends to remain where they are, and just relax; which they did.

'Hope he's going to be okay.' The four-legged fire breather thought before eating more cake. On the ranch all Ash was needed to do was plant the seed of the apple he ate into an open area. He was concerned that that was all they wanted but said nothing about it.

"Where do I put this?" The hero questioned aloud, and then felt the ground, and that was when a meter of sorts came to his mind - telling him if the spot was good or bad for the seed. The test went on for an hour or so until finally he found the right spot. "Weird. It's like the ground wanted me to put it there." He whispered to himself before hearing something coming from behind.

"Hey, Ash, the mayor wants to see you for a moment." The bucker, who went into town and given the name of one of the visitors, said to the man in question.

"Thanks, Apple Jack. I'm on my way." Ash said back after covering up the seed, and went back into town. He headed in and saw that his two Poke-Pals were already making fast friends with the citizens of this town. "You wanted to see Mayor." The raven haired youth questioned to the grey manned one.

"Yes, I have already shown Quilava and Pikachu this, so I am showing you as well." The leader said as she guided him over to a house that was on the edge of ville and forest. "I wish for you to have this as your home for however long you and your team is here for." She offered to the youth beside her.

'This is a little much especially considering I have no idea how long I'm going to be here.' Ash thought before looking around at all the ponies staring at him - waiting for an answer. "I will take it. Thank you Madame Mayor,: He said with a bow, and was grateful that there were no buildings or anything like that in the back yard.

"Splendid. Here are your keys, and again, Welcome to Ponyville." The mayor said to the hero before leaving to attend something else. Nothing else happened that day aside from hanging out with almost everyone in town, but at night something didn't sit right.

"I can't help but feel that there's something not right." The human pointed out while lying in the comfy bed. "Maybe if I release my other Pokemon." Ash offered and did so, and explained the situation which none of them seemed to really mind.

'Finally a break from breaking up fights.' Bulbasaur thought before finding a good spot on the floor to fall asleep on. Even after doing that the feeling that Ash felt was still there.

"Nope. Must be something else." Ketchum guessed and thought some air would help him. At first - it did, until the human looked at their moon. "Is that…another horse?" He questioned aloud and realized that it was that strange image that was giving him those bad vibes. 'Hopefully I'm just overreacting.' Ketchum thought and decided to head to bed; all the while praying that this could be a relaxing vacation, but something told him that it wouldn't.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Friendship is Magic Part 1, Mare in the moon

"Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria. There were two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest - used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger - brought out the moon to begin the night, thus the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects - all of different kinds of ponies, but as time went on… the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One faithful day the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon - she vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom - Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took responsibility for both sun and moon…" The book stated before the reader read aloud the last part.

"And harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." The reader said before going back to an image of six different colored gems. "Hmm, Elements of Harmony? I know I've heard of those before…but where?" A purple unicorn stated before staring into the sky for the answer.

"There you are Twilight. Moondancer is having a little get together in the castle courtyard. Do you want to come?" A pink/white pony questioned the pony in question who was walking down the road - still thinking of those gems.

"Oh, sorry girls. I got a lot of studying to catch up on." The bookworm commented while gesturing to the book in her saddlebag before burning hooves down the road.

"Does that pony do anything except study?" The pink/white one asked the one known as Moondancer.

"I think she's more interested in books than friends." Moondancer answered back before the two and a silent friend went on their own way. The studious one had a gut feeling about those three words.

"I know I've heard about the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said aloud as she sped past other ponies without a second glance, and eventually the pony had it to her destination after slamming the door in her old friend's face as he was about to leave the room. "Spike! Spike. Spike? There you are." She hollered out before seeing the small purple/green dragon sprawled on the floor.

'What hit me?' The dragon thought as he let out a groan.

"Quick. Find me that old copy of predictions and prophecies." She said after running up a flight of stairs of the library to find the book she was looking for. "What's that for?" Twilight questioned to her friend, who had followed her, and noticed that something was on his tail.

"Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but…" Spike answered her after removing it from his tail, and watched as the item within fell out.

"Oh, Spike. You know we don't have time for that sort of thing." The sister figure commented before knocking down a couple of unneeded books from the pile she was on.

"But we're on a break." The dragon stated almost in a whiny tone. His comment was ignored as the unicorn used her magic to move a few books from the high shelves to her face.

"No." She said repeatedly to the first eight books she brought before her since none of them was the one she wanted. "Spike!" She shouted in anger since she was running short on patience.

"It's over here." The aid said to her after climbing up a ladder to get at the desired book. Overjoyed by this the student quickly enchanted the book and brought it to her - with Spike attached.

"Ah!" She exclaimed before taking the book and placing it on a podium while the dragon dealt with the books she let fall to the floor. "Elements of Harmony. E…E…E… Ah-ha. Elements of Harmony - see Mare in the moon?" Twilight questioned after reading what it said.

"Mare in the moon, but that's only an old Pony's tale." Spike stated as he continued to put the books away.

"Mare? Mare? Ah-ha!" The purple pony stated after searching in a different book and found the article in question. "The mare in the moon - myth in olden pony times, a powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it for the longest day in the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal." She read before adding, "Spike, do you know what this means?" The creature in question was just about done putting the book back, but was able to answer her.

"No." He said while standing on a ladder that was standing perfectly straight - which worried him, and those fears were confirmed when it fell away from the bookcase, and he went straight down, but did not hit ground.

"Take a note, please, to the princess." The studious one said after saving her friend, and let him slide off her back so he was more comfortable.

"Okey-Dokey." He said once off the back of his old friend with the lent paper and pen in hand.

"My dearest teacher my continued study of pony magic has led me to discover that we are at the precipice of disaster." Twilight stated as her friend wrote what she spoke, but there was a snag.

"Hold on. Preci…preci…" He tried to speak, but stopped to look at the speaker with a confused look on his face.

"Threshold." She countered, and prayed that worked.

"Thre-." He started to speak, but again didn't know that one either.

"Brink." Twilight stated while thinking. 'All this time around books, and you think he would have at least glanced at all the dictionaries that are around.' The pony saw that the second replace word was also shot down. "That something really bad is about to happen." She stated in aggravation since this was going nowhere fast.

'That'll do.' Spike thought and quickly wrote down that last part.

"For you see the mythical mare in the moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she is abut to return to Equestira and bring with her eternal night. Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." The purple one stated as she walked over to a big window.

"Twilight Sparkle." Spike said as he finished the note before adding, "Got it!" This pleased his old friend that he was able to keep up with her dictation after that little vocabulary bump.

"Great! Send it." The student of the ruler said with a smile on her face.

"Now?" The writer questioned with curiosity evident in his voice.

"Of course." She countered back in an offended tone: can't believe that he would question the urgency of this note.

"Eh, I don't know, Twilight. Princess Celestia's a little busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration, and it's, like, the day after tomorrow." The dragon tried to explain why giving her idol this piece of info would only put more strain on her work load.

"That's just it, Spike. The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration. It's imperative that the princess is told right away." The studious one stated, and as a way to lighten the mood the note taker decided to write that down.

"Impera…Imper…" The purple/green dragon said in a strained voice since he did not know that word either.

"IMPORTANT!" She shouted back since she wasn't a happy pony that her friend wasn't taking this as seriously as she was.

"Okay. Okay." The reptile said back after being blown away by his friend's one word sentence. After rolling it up, and tying a red ribbon around it the fire breather used his unusual power - smoke messaging: burning the note and it is immediately sent to the royal one herself. "There, it's on its way." He said as the smoke flew out of the closest open window. "I wouldn't hold your breath." He added with a smug tone since he knew that this was a colossal waste of time.

"Oh, I'm not worried, Spike. The princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor she's never once doubted me." Twilight countered as she slowly walked over to her 'younger brother'. The both of them shared their own version of - we shall see, facial expression until…the dragon belched up the response. "I knew she would want to take immediate action." The pony stated with a smile - feeling pretty sure of herself after seeing how quickly the response was.

'We'll just see who's right.' Spike thought as he walked over to the scroll and opened it up.

"My dearest most faithful student Twilight,

You know I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books." Spike said to her causing the listener to gasp in alarm. Before she could protest a couple of guards showed up with a chariot and the two were off with orders from the princess.

'What could she be thinking?' The student thought after boarding the chariot.

"My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying. So, I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this years location - Ponyvile. And, I have an even more important task for you to complete - make some friends." Spike continued to read the rest of the letter to try to cheer her up, but it did the opposite.

'This is not what I'm supposed to be doing. I have no time for friends.' The student thought as she let out a disgruntled groan.

"Look on the bright side Twilight: the princess arranged for you to stay in a library doesn't that make you happy?" The dragon questioned since he knew how much his 'sister' liked to read.

"Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right. I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can then get to library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return." The persistent pony said since she was still gunning for this mislead mare.

"Then, when will you make friends like the princess said." The note taker commented since he really wished this pony would obey that request too.

"She said - check on preparations. I am her student, and I will do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Sparkle stated as they touched down in town. "Thank you, sirs." Twilight said to her ride which both seemed proud that they received praise from the princess' best student.

"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about." The dragon said as a pink pony and blue alligator came walking up to them: happy as they could be. "Come on Twilight, just try." He offered since he knew this studious one seriously needed help with her pony skills.

"Uh, hello." Twilight offered a bit nervous tone, but still understandable. The pink one gasped and sped away while the gator spewed water on the both of them, and followed after the hoofed one. "Well, that was interesting alright." The student said before shaking off the water, and carried on.

'Since when do alligators spew water from their mouths?' Spike thought before following after her with a sigh of disappointment. The two walked down a dirt road until the dragon coughed up a check list, and with that and a pencil in hand they started their supervision. "Summer Sun Celebration official over-seer Checklist: Number 1.) Banquet preparations - Sweet Apple Acres." Spike said as they entered a familiar farm.

"Yee-Haw!" A voice called out and the two saw an orange/yellow pony and big, brown bull charge over to a couple of trees. As the pony swiveled for her hind hooves to be the things to slam into an apple tree the bull used his head, but the result was the same: five wooden baskets full of apples.

"Let's get this over with." Twilight said to the checker since she wasn't liking this boring task her mentor had given her. "Good Afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle." The supervisor stated before finding herself in a powerful hoof-shake.

"Well, howdy-do, Miss Twilight. A pleasure making your acquaintance. I'm Apple Jack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like to making new friends." The cowgirl pony said while shaking the new girl's hoof happily.

"Friends? Actually, I uh…" The checker started to speak but stopped when the hoof-shake did.

"So, what can I, and my pal Tauros, do you for?" The apple wrangler said with a wink. The two watched as the bull in question walked past them and stood beside Apple Jack.

'That was pretty funny.' Spike thought as he chuckled after helping his friend's leg from shaking.

"Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and your in charge of the food?" Twilight informed and questioned since she wanted these tasks done to focus on the real threat.

"We sure as sugar are. Would you care to sample some?" The farmer questioned even though a friend of their's already has she thought it best that some new taste buds may help.

"Well, as long as it doesn't take too long." Twilight said to no one since the helper of the ranch had already sped off - with bull in toe. Using his horn the bull signaled the family to the field with the metal triangle.

"Soups on, every-pony." AJ called out for all to hear, and the two heard galloping behind them, but before either of them could do anything they were swept up in the current.

'That was different.' The two thought before realizing that they were sitting at a table with a very beautiful tablecloth.

"Now, why don't I introduce ya'll to the Apple Family." Apple Jack stated to the two new creatures while gesturing to all the eyes that were upon them.

"Thanks, but I really need to hurry." Twilight said as she was just about to flee until a piece of food was placed before her face.

"This here is Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Galle, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Frio, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith. Up and at `em Granny Smith we got guests." Apple Jack explained which each pony introduced gave a sample to the two visitors.

"Wha? Soups on!" The elder hollered after getting out of her rocking chair and walked over to the others.

"Why, I'd say they're already part of the family." AJ said happily causing TS to spit out the apple the farm girl shoved into her mouth a moment ago.

"Okay. Well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way." The studious student said with a smile, but that did not sit well with the Apple Family.

"Aren't you going to stay for Brunch?" Apple Bloom asked sweetly sporting a look that, according to Ash since he had seen it, rivals Meowth in Boots big eyes.

"Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do." She explained causing the whole family to 'ah' in disappointment: even the bull. "Fine." She stated since her family raised her to be polite, and not a heel to her fellow ponies. They all cheered after hearing that, and spent some time with the two new creatures.

"Food taken care of. Next is the weather." Spike said as he checked the first item off, and was ready for the second one.

"Ugh, I had too much pie." Twilight stated with her head hung low due to indigestion.

"Hmm, there's supposed to be a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds." Spike informed while looking up at the blue sky above.

"Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" Twilight questioned after looking at the partly cloudy sky above them. At that moment a Roy G Biv blur slammed into her and landed the two of them into a mud puddle.

"Uh, scuse me." The flyer said out of embarrassment: since she did not mean for that to happen at all. A groan of annoyance was her answer, but luckily the speedster new what to do. "Let me help you." She offered before taking a cloud and placing over the new pony and stepped on it ten times causing the stored water to gush all over Twilight.

'Second time today.' The student thought in aggravation as she continued to sit in the mud puddle.

"Oops, I guess I over did it. Um, uh…how about this - my very own patented: Rainblow Dry. No, no don't think me; your quit welcome." The blue furred one said during and after her stunt, but paused to see what happened to the new girl's mane and started laughing about it which the dragon did as well.

'I keep telling her - watch the speed.' A bird thought as he saw the whole thing, but remained silent.

"Let me guess: your Rainbow Dash?" The checker questioned even though she knew the answer was all too obvious.

"The one and only!" She exclaimed while standing up right before zipping into the air, and added, "Why? Ya heard a me?" Curious to find out what the new pony had heard of this speed demon.

"I heard your supposed to be keeping the sky clear." The overseer stated before deciding to be a bit formal to the winged woman. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the princess sent me to check on the weather." The purple one informed as the flyer rest on a cloud: not really paying attention to the news.

"Yeah. Yeah. That'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." The slacker informed in an easy going style, and it was that last word that caught the overseer's attention.

"Practicing? For what?" She asked since there shouldn't be anything more important than the SSC.

"The Wonder Bolts!" The flyer shouted enthusiastically while pointing at a flyer on a building. "They're gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show `em my stuff." Rainbow said while landing on a different cloud. It was then that the purple one decided to use this information to her advantage.

"The Wonder Bolts?" She asked while starting up her plan.

"Yep." The flyer answered back with a smile on her face as she pictured herself in one of those jumpsuits.

"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria." Twilight questioned; just to be sure she knew who the Pegasus was talking about.

"That's them." RD said with her mind still on that jumpsuit, and how good she will look in it.

"Please, they'd never accept a Pegasus who couldn't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." Twilight said and knew that this pony would take the bait.

"Hey! I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat." The weather controller said back with an angered tone since she did not like it when someone underestimated her abilities.

"Yeah right." Twilight responded before spotting a rather large bird on a rooftop, and decided on something else. "I bet that bird over there can beat you in five seconds." She challenged which really caught the blue one's attention.

"Who? Pidgeot? Dream on; I can fly circles around him." Rainbow answered back, and it was then the bird decided to get ready since he knew what was coming next.

"Prove it." The new pony challenged, and with that the two of them were treated to a spectacular air show. Spike was able to see that the giant bird, and Rainbow Dash were matching one another cloud for cloud; they even took down the last one together.

"You still got some moves, Pidgeot." The flying horse whispered as the two slowly landed on the ground. "What'd I say - ten seconds flat." RD said to the both of them as she landed on the bridge over a stream while the bird perched himself on the stone wall. "I'd never leave Ponyville hangin`, and I know Pidgeot wouldn't either." The speed demon stated and meant every word.

'Wow…just wow.' Twilight thought as she was still in awe over what had just happened.

"You should see the look on your face. You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle." The winged one said as she glided in the air before stopping and staying airborne near the new girl.

"We should hang out more often." The bird suggested before taking flight, and leaving with his four legged friend right behind him.

"Wow. They're amazing." Spike said to his old friend once the duo had left them before nearly having another laughing fit after seeing the student's new mane style. "Wait. It's kinda pretty once you get used to it." The dragon corrected himself after realizing that she was still miffed about what happened with the Rainblow Dry.

"Is that a turtle with a tree on it's shell?" Twilight questioned aloud at the rather large turtle lying by the building of their next stop.

"Seems that way." The reptile answered back and decided to meet this strange creature. "Hey there, I'm Spike." He said to the napping one which after hearing the voice awoke.

"I am Torterra." The creature said to the two new comers as he rose from his lying pose.

"Sorry if my friend woke you up, sir." The violet visitor commented as she glared at Spike for being so rude.

"No problem. Who are you?" The shelled wonder asked since he did not recall a pony with that marking before.

"Sorry, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I have been sent here by Princess Celestia herself to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration." The new girl stated, and it was then the turtle glanced at the paper in the scaly one's claws, and could see the next item on the list.

"Let me help you on the next stop on your check list." He offered and slowly walked to the next stop. Even though TS was in a rush he did not want to seem rude, so she let him lead them.

'This is a lot better.' Spike thought as he climbed the rather large shell, and decided to give his feet a break. "Come on, Twilight. I'm sure he won't mind." He offered to the sister-like figure that was about to lecture that he shouldn't have done that.

'It would be nice to give my aching hooves a break.' She thought and succumbed to the free ride. After a few moments Torterra stopped before a rather large building: possibly bigger than the one his boss has.

"Here we are. Your next stop. Hope you enjoyed the break." The grass/ground type stated watched them get off his back. The pony had a gut feeling that it was the sound of her hooves on his shell that gave them away, but he did not seem upset for what they did. After saying their goodbyes the two headed inside.

"Decorations." Spike said as he was ready to cross this one off the list until he spotted something he liked. "Beautiful." He said in awe at the, in his opinion, best part of this building.

"Yes, the décor is coming along nicely." Twilight said as she gazed at all the banners and what not in the room and thought it all went together perfectly. "This ought to be quick. I'll be at the library in no time." She commented before adding, "Beautiful indeed." As she looked at a banner that had the same marking as her mentor.

"Not the décor. Her." He said while pointing at a purple/white pony hard at work.

"No." The designer said to a yellow, blue, and green ribbon. All the while the lizard was becoming captivated by her beauty. "Oh goodness no." She said to another option she floated her way.

"How are my scales? Are they straight?" Spike questioned as he patted down the fin-like objects on his cheeks.

'Someone's got a crush.' Twilight thought after hearing the questions, and the way he was acting. "Good Afternoon." Twilight said after taking a few paces to this pony.

"Just a moment please. I'm in the zone as it were." The designer said politely before going back to work and saw the item she deemed worthy of her plan. "Yes. Sparkle always does the trick, does it not. Why Rarity you are a talent." She questioned while managing a rather large red ribbon. "Now, um, how can I help yo-waaaaaah!" The fashion expert exclaimed at the sight before her.

'That was uncalled for.' Twilight thought after hearing the scream.

"Oh my stars, darling! What ever happened to your crinie`re?" The white/purple one questioned in alarm.

"Oh, you mean my mane?" The overseer questioned before continuing with, "It's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations and then I'll be out of your hair." Sadly a gut feeling told her different.

"Out of my hair? What about your hair?" She questioned before walking closer to her fellow unicorn only to push her out of the building.

"Wait. Where are we going? Help." Twilight said, but her pleas fell of deaf ears since her old friend was still love struck to do anything else. As they were heading to a totally different building none of them noticed a fast moving shadow buzz past them.

'Looks like Rarity found another mane case to deal with.' The dragon thought as he saw the three enter a familiar white building. Having no interst in this field Garchomp continued on his way.

"No. No. Uh-huh. Too green. Too yellow. Too poofy. Not poofy enough. Too frilly. Too shiny. Now go on my dear you were telling where your from." The designer stated after giving the new girl roughly ten outfit choices.

"I've been sent from Canterlot to…" Twilight said through the thinning of the girdle, but was flung away when the location was mentioned.

"Canterlot?!" The clothing expert shouted in excitement after the slingshot move from the girdle. "Oh, I am so envious! The glamour. The sophistication. I have always dreamed of living there. I can't wait to here all about it. We're going to be the best of friends you and I." She said which caused the overseer to me a little uncomfortable when the 'f' word was spoken. "Emeralds?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" She exclaimed and ran off to get the item in question.

"Quick! Before she decides to dye my coat a new color!" The book smart beauty exclaimed as she ran for the door while Spike remained entranced.

'Kid's got it bad.' A green skin creature thought as he watched everything from a tree branch, and saw the love struck look. 'He's setting himself for one humongous fall.' The out of towner thought before rushing in, grabbed the dragon, and placed it on the panic pony's back.

"What was…" Sparkle questioned when she heard something behind her, but there was nothing there. "It must have been Spike." She stated after catching sight of the purple scaled one in question.

"Wasn't she wonderful?" The dragon questioned as he suddenly rediscovered his tongue.

"Focus, Casanova. What's next on the list?" She asked while now just walking along; believing them to be far enough from that white/purple horse.

"Oh, music. It's the last one." Spike informed after looking at their to do list, and it was the 'l' word in his sentence that the pony liked the best. She was about to comment about her main mission until the sound of singing caught their attention. After peeking through a bush they saw that the noise came from eighteen birds.

"Oh my. Um, stop please everyone." A timid cream/pink winged pony said before flying up to a blue jay. "Excuse me, sir, I mean no offense, but your rhythm is just a teeny tiny bit off." She informed before flying back to where she was. "Now, follow me, please. A one and a two. A one, two three." She said calmly, and they were about to start again until a voice called out.

"Hello. Oh my. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music, and it sounded beautiful." Twilight said as the winged one slowly came to a landing. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." She said since it seemed to be getting awkward. "What's your name?" The student questioned since she really wanted to know the pony in charge of this activity.

"Um…I'm…Fluttershy." The pony said while saying her name under the tone of a whisper.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" TS questioned since she couldn't hear something that quiet.

"Um, I'm…Fluttershy." She answered back but her answer was even softer than the first.

"Didn't quit catch that." The overseer stated again and did not want to sound rude. The shy one's third attempt came out as a squeak which was lost like the other two. It was then a thin creature saw the trouble and decided to help her out.

"Hey there. I'm Quilava, how are you doing." A cream/green creature said as he offered a hand to the purple pony. At first she was a little taken off guard due to this creature's arrival, but did the polite thing and shook his hand. "This is Fluttershy. A friend of mine." He added while gesturing over to the timid one.

"Well, um, it looks like your birds are back, so I guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work." Twilight said after he released her hoof, and after another moment of awkwardness she added, "Okay." She walked over to a bush where another new face walked out. "Well, that was easy." She said to her old friend.

"A baby dragon!" Fluttershy shouts out with great joy before rushing over to the scaly one; slamming Twilight out of the way in the process. "I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute." The animal lover said as she got up close to the dragon.

"Well. Well. Well." Spike said to the fallen one as if grand standing that he's the talk of the town.

"Oh my! He talks. I didn't know dragons could talk, well I did, but not young ones, like you. That's just so incredibly wonderful I…I just don't even know what to say." Flutter said as she seemed happy at the moment.

'I better tend to the other one.' The fire type thought as he helped the visitor back on her hooves. The moment she was the magic user in training decided to cut this talk short.

"Well, in that case we better be going." The visitor said as she levitated her friend to her back and was about to head out until the music coordinator spoke out.

"Wait. Wait. What's his name?" Fluttershy questioned as she walked behind the dragon owner.

"I'm Spike." The green/purple one said back.

"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy. Wow, a talking dragon, and what do dragons talk about?" She asked even though there were two local dragons, and even though they aren't what she expected the animal lover was still intimidated by them.

"Well, what do you want to know?" He asked back since no one has really seemed interested in him like she is.

"Absolutely everything." FS said back with a smile on her face. This caused the one giving the ride to the reptile to groan in annoyance since she knew that was going to take a while. As he was talking Twilight noticed several strange creatures - each as bizarre as the next.

'The boss will want to know about these two.' An ordinary black/white bird thought before taking flight to meet up with the man in question.

"Well, that takes care of my whole life; not counting today. Do you want to hear about today?" Spike question after going through his entire life story.

"Oh, yes, please." Fluttershy as she was at wrapped attention through out the whole thing. Before he could speak TS swiveled to face her, and talk - pony to pony.

"I am so sorry. How did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyvile, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep." Twilight explained, and quickly put an end to Spike's protest kicking him off of her. "Aw, wook at that. He's so sweepy he can barely keep his wittle bowance." She said with baby talk since she knew that he hated that kind of talk.

"Poor thing. You simply must get him to bed." Fluttershy said as she scooped up the youngster and flew into the library, but was quickly pushed out by the new girl.

"Yes, yes. I'll get right on that. Well, goodnight." TS said before shutting the door right in the shy one's face. She took a few paces inward, but stopped when she heard a voice.

"Rude much." Spike stated, and felt a bit insulted to be friends with Twilight at the moment.

"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the princess that Nightmare Moon is coming and we're running out of time. I just need to be alone so I can study without a whole bunch of crazy ponies and creatures trying to make friends all the time. Now where's the light?" She informed and questioned before the item in question came on.

"Surprise!" The ponies and creatures, that she was trying to avoid shouted in joy; catching both of them off guard.

"Surprise! I'm Pinkie Pie, and Totodile and I threw this party just for you." The pink one from earlier informed before the alligator spoke.

"Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh? Huh? Huh?" The water gator questioned with the both of them jumping every which way around the new pony.

"Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be quiet." Twilight informed and knew that any chance for some studying went out the window.

"That's silly! What kind a welcome party would it be if it were quiet. I mean, duh, boring!" Pinkie said and then began talking about her plan and showed the other four that Twilight had met.

"There's the new girl! Hey! Hi there! I'm comin at ya." A purple blob shouted of joy and slimed into her before the pony could reach the beverage table. As everyone saw this they heard the door open.

"Hey guys." The new arrival said before seeing someone in the puddle that was his old friend. "Muk, you might want to let her breath." The late to the party said before walking over.

"Sorry, Ash, you know how I am with new people." The glob of goo said as he slid off of her.

"Yes, I know old friend, and that is an admiral quality." Ash said as he gently rubbed the top of his head. "Sorry about that. Muk can be a little bit too friendly with new people. I am Ash Ketchum by the way, and I'm guessing you've met my friends." The human said to her while gently shaking her hoof to show that he was a good guy.

'This feeling…the same one I get from one of the guards.' Twilight thought before feeling him release her hoof, and watched as he stepped aside so that she could get to the beverages.

"Thank you." Twilight said back to him and began to fix a glass for herself, and as she did that the party planner decided to finish what she was saying earlier.

"So, I decided to throw this great big, ginormous, super-duper, spectacular welcome party, and invite everyone in Ponyville. See? And now you have lots and lots of friends." The happy pink one said with a smile.

"Are you alright, sugar Q?" AJ questioned at the strange face she was giving them. In an instant she fled, and Ash could have sworn the new pony had a flaming mane.

'Easy Ash. You've been here for a few weeks, so you know that these ponies aren't related to any one back home.' The trainer thought before hearing the happy-go-lucky one speak.

"Aw, she's so happy: she's crying." He could agree with that but at the same time he had a different thought in mind.

'I just hope she doesn't end up like Sabrina - friendless, and obsessive over a single goal.' As he was thinking that Spike saw why she fled: the studious one was drinking - hot sauce which Pinkie poured some on a cup cake and ate it.

"What? It's good." She said to her friends while eating it. Not wanting to be kept out of something new Ketchum gave it a shot, and enjoyed it.

'Better than Misty's cooking.' He thought before doing it two more times. The resident of the library couldn't get to sleep, but not out of fear; out of noise.

"Hey Twilight, Pinkie Pie is starting - pin the tale on the pony! Wanna play?" Spike questioned after entering her room with a lampshade on his head.

"No! All the creatures in this town are CRAZY! Do you know what time it is?" She shouted and questioned while lying in bed gazing through the window.

"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Every-pony has to stay up or they'll miss the princess raise the sun. You really should lighten up Twilight. It's a party!" The dragon stated before going back down to the get together, and his newest friends that were near his height.

"Here I thought I'd have time to learn about more about the Elements of Harmony, but silly me, all this ridiculous friend making has kept me from it!" Twilight said to herself after mocking what her brother figure said to her. "Legend has it the longest day on the thousandth year the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring everlasting night. I hope the princess was right. I hope it is just a pony tale." TS said while looking at the moon.

'So, that's why I've been getting bad vibes - a new evil.' Ash, who had volunteered to get the new girl, so that they all could go to town hall. Ketchum hated that tone from anyone - the sound of fear. "Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise." Ash said as he walked all the way into her room.

"Oh, right, so it is." The student to the princess said back and hurried off with the unknown creature following after her. As for some added muscle Ketchum recalled all of his creatures before exiting the library.

"Isn't this exciting! Are you excited cause I'm excited! I've never been so excited except for the time I saw you flew into town and I was, gasp, but really who can top that." Pinkie said as she sped over to the two new comers.

"Fluttershy did an amazing job as always." Ash said to Pikachu as they heard the intro song from the birds, and then there was a spotlight focused on the mayor of this fine town.

"Philleys and Gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration." The mayor said causing everyone to cheer at the announcement. "In just a few moments our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this - the longest day of the year, and now it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony that gives us the sun and the moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria…" The mayor stated to build for dramatic tension.

"Ready?" FS questioned to the song birds.

"Princess Celestia." The mayor finished, and with that Rarity pulled the rope which opened the balcony completely, but nothing was there.

"This can't be good." Twilight said after seeing the shadow on the moon, but prayed that that meant nothing sadly with no princess, which Celsestia taught punctuality as a top priority, made the student worry even more.

"Remain calm, every-pony. There must be a reasonable explanation." The mayor said as she tried to calm her worried people. As Ash and Pikachu scanned around since they knew something bad was about to happen PP thought something different.

"Oh. Oh. I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" The perky one exclaimed and questioned before looking on the floor.

"She's gone." The beauty expert announced after looking around the balcony and could not find mane strand or feather of the lady in question. This caused all but three to gasp in alarm.

"Oh, she's good." Pinkie said still believing that this was just a game.

"So much for my vacation." Ketchum muttered as he and the others saw black smoke come from the balcony which gave way to…

"Nightmare Moon." Twilight said as she saw the black figure above them. Seeing this caused the dragon to faint - namely because he couldn't believe that his friend was right.

"Oh my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, sun loving faces." Nightmare said to them which almost all the ponies were shaking in fear except for…

"What did you do with our princess?" Rainbow challenged and was about to leap head first into battle until she felt someone pulling on her tail.

"Hold on there, Nelly." AJ said as she used all her strength to keep the speed of rushing into the fray.

"Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" The villainess questioned to the people; not noticing one of them slowly making his way away from her.

"Oh! Oh! More guessing games! Um, Pokey Smokes. How about Queen Meanie? No, Black Snooty! Black Snooty!" Pinkie started to speak before the puller used a free hoof to shove an apple in her mouth.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" The evil one said and Ash could see Fluttershy's body shake with fear causing him to growl in anger.

"Do you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" The wicked winged one questioned while flicking her mane at the designer.

"I did." TS spoke out to cause attention to fall onto her. "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon - Nightmare Moon." She followed up to her earlier comment causing all toe gasp in alarm.

"Well, well, well. Some pony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here?" The enemy said and felt touched that someone knew of her in this day and age.

"You're here to…to…" She couldn't bring herself to finish it because the student was praying that the 'eternal night' wasn't her grand plan, and she at least mellowed while on the moon.

"Remember this day little ponies for it is your last. From this moment forth the night will last forever!" She proclaimed and summoned a storm cloud over head while laughing evilly at them.


	3. Chapter 3

Ash, and other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 2

Friendship is Magic Part 2, Elements of Harmony

"Cease her! Only she knows where the princess is!" The mayor called out to three guards that arrived before the princess in ensure security. They did as she asked and flew at her, but the wicked one was prepared.

"Stand back you fools!" Nightmare Moon shouted before shooting them down with lightning which was noticed by the human.

"Your not getting away." Ketchum proclaimed as he rushed from his hiding spot when he saw his opponent begin to engulf in smoke. "Glalie - Ice Beam. Buizel - Aqua Jet." He called out while throwing the selected creatures into battle.

'Arctic Aqua Jet coming at you.' The water class thought after being contained in ice which had went into the cloud, but hit nothing except the balcony. As Ash assess the welfare of his water type AJ lost hold of her speedy friend.

"Come back here!" Rainbow shouted as she bolted out the door, but stopped to watch her opponent flee. "Night time? Forever?" She said while catching her breath, and that did not sit well with her. Before fear could set in the blue furred one looked down and saw the new girl run off. "Where's she going?" RD questioned aloud before following.

"We better go too." Ash said to the four ponies that remained behind after calling those two back to their mobile homes. With that they gave chase after the two even though they all knew the destination.

"We gotta stop Nightmare…." Spike called out once they got back and he was lying in bed. Sadly his body was tapped out, so he fell back to sleep before he could finish his sentence.

"You've been up all night, Spike. You're a baby dragon after all." The student said as she tucked him in, turned the lights off to her room, and set off on her first mission. "Elements. Elements. Elements. Ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony!" She said while scanning through all her books; the pony was so focused on the task that she didn't even hear the door open.

"And just what are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh?! Are you a spy?!" Rainbow Dash said to the studious one before getting yanked by the tail thanks to Apple Jack again.

"Simmer down, Sally. She aint no spy, but she sure knows what's going on, don't you Twilight?" The farm girl questioned after releasing the tail and walking closer to the new girl.

"I read about all the prediction about Nightmare Moon." TS said to the six since none of them seemed to be in a happy mood at the moment. "Some mysterious objects known as the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are? Where to find them? I don't even know what they do?" She informed the group while gazing at the ordinary moon.

"The Elements of Harmony a reference guide." Pinkie said rather calmly as she looked at one of the books still on the shelf.

"How did you find that?" The student questioned after body checking the pink one away to get a better look.

"It was under 'E'." The energetic one said as she skipped about; unfazed by the body check.

'Kid reminds me of me.' Ash thought as he heard the librarian simply 'oh' after not realizing that sooner. She then enchanted the book and floated it closer to her.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty; the sixth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location for the five elements was in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters." Twilight explained to them, but Ash caught a glimpse of something in the window.

'Better just grab five more Pokemon, and leave the others behind. In case that evil one decides to double back.' Ash thought, and began to guess who would be the best option for this mission by going out and keeping five while releasing the others.

"What's up boss?" Haunter questioned as he enjoyed the pure darkness around him. The oldest of the team could see that Ash had a plan to battle this evil, but there was something more.

"No doubt you sensed the evil that is in Ponyville." Ash asked and received several nods, so he continued with, "That is why I'm taking Pikachu and these five with me, but I need the rest of you to remain here in case she returns." The others knew that he was right about that possibility.

"We're on it." Charizard said to his old friend with his wing blocking Bayleef since he knew she was going to protest. While they were here all of them could tell that she was going back to her old roots - jealousy, so he had to speak up first.

"Ash, look!" Pikachu exclaimed which caused the taller of the two to turn and see the six running off.

"Gotta go! Remember - attack Nightmare Moon, and nothing else." Ketchum called out before catching up to them. "The Everfree Forest. Always wanted to explore this place." The hero said to himself after seeing where they stopped at.

"Whee! Let's go!" Pinkie shouted to the group before taking a couple of steps forward, but was stopped by the studious one.

"Not so fast." She said to stop the happy-go-lucky one from going any further before adding, "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I really rather do this on my own." The pony prayed that they would take the hint, but sadly they didn't.

"No can do, Sugar Q. We sure ain`t lettin` friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple." Apple Jack informed before she and the other girls took point.

"Especially if there are candy apples in there." Pinkie said before seeing Ash and Twilight giving her a strange look. "What? Those things are good!" She explained before trotting on.

"Besides where I come from there's an old saying - there's strength in numbers." Ash said to her before walking in to join with the others causing the student to sigh in defeat, and join them.

"So, none of you have been in here before?" Twilight questioned with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Heavens no. Just look at it. It's dreadful." Rarity explained with fear in her voice as well. The trainer really wished that he brought Noctowl since he could guide them better.

"And it ain`t natural. Folks say it don't work the same way as Equestria." AJ explained, but as they were walking along no one, not even Ash or Pikachu, noticed a strange mist seep into the rock beneath their feet/hooves.

"What's that supposed to mean?" TS questioned with her fear rising. It was then the speed factor to provoke their fear.

"No pony knows. You know why?" The blue one questioned stalking right up to FF, PP, and R face to face.

"Rainbow, quit it." The apple wrangler said in a warning tone since she did not want to see her friends more scared than they already are.

"Cause every pony who's ever come in has never come out!" Rainbow said as she continued to stalk forward before jumping up at the last part. She only intended to startle them, but something unintended happened instead.

'Hmm, didn't see this coming.' The Pallet Town protector thought calmly at the sight of the ground cracking beneath them. Before he could warn them it gave out completely causing all wingless creatures to slide down to the ground.

"Fluttershy, quick!" Rainbow shouted as she saw her friends in danger.

"Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" The shy one shouted in alarm before speeding off as well. The five others were screaming as they were swiftly heading for ground. The happy one was saved by the speedster, but the shy one's save was redirected.

"Worry about the others. Pikachu and I can manage." Ash said to the flyer over him, and reluctantly she did just that and went for Rarity; Apple Jack saved herself by grabbing onto a exposed tree root. Ketchum and his electoral friend were the first to go over the edge.

'Great plan, fearless leader.' Pikachu thought as they were now falling. As always Ash relied on his gut instinct to get him out of this, but prayed he picked the right grass type.

"Go!" Ash shouted out while throwing out one of his Pokeballs, and out came Sceptile. Just seeing the situation he knew what was expected of him, and after using that famous speed of his the tree gecko was able to catch the both of them before landing safely.

"You two okay?" He asked after releasing them while checking for any kind of injuries.

"We're fine Sceptile. Thanks." The human said back while wondering why sliding on the Earth didn't seem to hurt him that much. During the time of Ketchum's fall into the chasm there was a situation going on above them.

"Hold on. I'm a comin`." AJ said after releasing the root, and slid down to the hanging sixth pony of their group.

"Apple Jack, what do I do?" Twilight questioned out of fear after gripping the farm girl's outstretched front hooves. At first the one the question was for did not know what to say until a familiar sound caught her ear, and it was then she knew what to say.

"Let go." She said as a simple statement.

"Are you crazy?!" The D.I.D. shouted in anger while thinking, 'She says she's my friend, and she wants me to fall into this chasm.' The orange one understood why she said that, but knew how to assure her everything was going to be fine.

"No, I ain`t. I promise you'll be safe." She said with her calmest, most sincere tone.

"That's not true!" TS answered back while holding onto her friend's hooves for dear life.

"Now listen here. What I'm sayin` to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe." Apple Jack said to her and saw her new friend's eyes grow wide with fear, but also felt the steel grip loosening.

'This was totally the wrong idea!' She thought while screaming on her way down, but suddenly felt the speed of her fall become a lot slower. 'What is…' Twilight thought before feeling a pair of talons around her waist. Her first instinct was to scream, but she forced herself to look up and saw that it was Pidgeot.

"Your going to be fine." The bird cooed on their way down. The living package looked down and saw that Ash, his Pokemon, and the girls were all safe.

'She was right.' The student thought while watching the honest one use a series of jutted out rocks as stairs to get down to the others. Once TS's hooves were all on the ground the big bird released his grip, and stood beside her.

"I better see who else I have." Ash said aloud before throwing the other three balls into the air. This summoned: Tauros, Totodile, and Quilava. 'These will do in a pinch.' The trainer thought with a smile before seeing that the girls were already on the move, so they followed after them.

"And then Ash slid down the cliff, called out Sceptile and Pidgeot. Then Pidgeot - looped-the-looped around and caught you right in time." Rainbow explained before glancing at the flyer who decided to walk with the rest of them.

"Yes, Rainbow, I was there. And I'm very grateful." Twilight said while looking over at the human that brought up the rear.

"I'm sure that if Pidgeot wasn't around Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash wouldn't have let you fall." The monster tamer explained which made the shy and speedy one smile that he had that much faith in them.

"Thank you Ash, but I'm just used to carrying a bunny or two. I'm not sure if I could carry a pony." The timid one said to the hero, but he just smiled and replied with…

"You won't know if you don't try." After that they were about to pick up the pace until a creature stood before them.

"A manticore!" Twilight shouted at the winged lion with a scorpion tail stood there: ready to strike them down. "We've got to get past him." Their pony field leader said to the rest of them.

"Let's try a tag-team approach. Sceptile, use Leaf Blade." Ash called out who followed his order, but only after one of the ponies attacked.

"Take that, you ruffian." Rarity shouted out after hind hoof kicking him in the face which the grass type backed her up with Leaf Blade. The beast countered by roaring at them which naturally didn't intimidate Sceptile, but did the opposite to the fashion expert. "My hair!" She complained before fleeing out of fear.

"Wait." Fluttershy said after standing on the sidelines and watching the whole thing. Ketchum saw that Apple Jack was going to give it a shot, so he decided to switch dance partners.

"Sceptile retreat with Bullet Seed. Tauros wrangle him in with Double Team." Ash shouted out which they did because they trusted his moves. With the seeds blinding him and the bull illusions on the ground the big cat backed away causing the second pony to do her thing.

"Yee-haw! Get along little doggie!" AJ shouted once she was on top of the beast. A common instinct was to buck her off as best as he could.

"Wait." FS tried again, and again was ignored. By this time she was noticed by Quilava.

'What does she want?' The fire type thought before watching the rest of Apple Jack's fight. She was eventually bucked off which the bull saw and decided to cushion her fall.

"All yours partners." She said calmly while buzzing past Rainbow Dash and the now airborne bird.

"We're on it." Rainbow said with a salute, and they decided to try a tag-team style of their own.

"Wait." Fluttershy tried to reason with them again, but wasn't heard by any one except the fire class. She created a Roy G Biv tornado and the other feathered one added in a barrage Steel Wings. The beast didn't like this and timed a tail swipe that took them both out.

"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted in alarm while Ash raced to the front and put his feet in a brace stance. Pidgeot saw this and saw that the blue one was right behind him, so the bird cushioned her crash as the Pokemon Trainer saved them both.

"Looks like it's up to us." Ash said to the electrical one on his shoulder. The two, along with the other ponies were about to strike until the tallest one gets struck first. "Ow! What was…Quilava?" Ketchum questioned to the one that gave him a small Swift attack to the back of the head.

"Why don't you try a non-warrior give it a shot." The timid fire class explained before pointing straight ahead. They all watched as Fluttershy was approaching the beast. The cat raised its claw to strike, the girls didn't want to watch, and Ash was still ready to attack until he saw the timid one do what she does best.

"Shh, it's okay." She explained to the lion before nuzzling her nose on his left paw. Once he realized that this one meant no harm he decided to reveal why he was so aggressive at the moment. "Oh, you poor, poor little baby." She said after seeing the purple thorn in his paw.

"Little?" The speedy one questioned since she was looking at a beast that was taller than Ash.

"Now this might hurt for just a second." The cream/pink one said before taking the thorn in her mouth, and gave a swift yank. The creature picked her up and roared out of instinct they still thought the worst only to watch the beast lick her. "Oh, your just a little baby kitty, aren't you?" She said during the licking moment which the group saw that it was safe to pass.

"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight questioned as she waited for the timid one once the cat was done thanking her.

"I didn't. Sometimes we all need to be shown a little kindness." Fluttershy explained before walking on. TS followed after them, and once they were gone the fallen thorn changed into a dark mist, the same mist responsible for the fallen Earth, and moved onto a different section of the forest.

"My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Rarity commented as they continued on their quest. "I didn't mean that literally." She added when they entered a thick brush that blocked out the moon's light.

"The Ancient Ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn't even know it." The girl on point explained to the others. Ash sensed something by his feet, but it fled too quickly before he could see what it was.

"Oh, wait, I think I stepped in something." Apple Jack said after they had a moment of confusion. "It's just mud." She added after hearing Fluttershy scream, and thought it was over what was said until she saw a tree sport a scary look.

"We're surrounded." Ash announced causing all the girls to scream while Ash to view this as another fight. "Guys, get ready for a fight." He said causing Leaf Blade, Iron Tail, Zen Headbutt, and Steel Wing to get ready, but the attacks quickly deactivated once they all heard laughter.

"Pinkie, Totodile, what are you two doing? Run!" Twilight questioned once they saw the two in questions make funny faces at one of the trees.

"Oh, guys." Pinkie said to the group of explorers before starting something familiar. "When I was a little Philley, and the sun was going down." She said to them in a sing-song voice.

"Fellas, is she really…." Ash started to speak before he was cut off by the happy one.

"The darkness and the shadows they would always make me frown." The spontaneous soprano sang to them.

"She is." The beauty expert stated to the human since she knew what he was getting at.

"I'd hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw, but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all." Pinkie sang to them which confused the group.

"Then what is?" The speed factor asked the singer, and received her answer in a song.

"She said: Pinkie, ya gotta stand up tall. Learn to face your fears. You'll see that they can't hurt you. Just laugh and make them disappear. Ha. Ha. Ha." Pie said to them and demonstrated which actually worked.

'Wow, laughter can do that?' The water gator thought in awe at what he just saw happen. She then continued to sing while using the other ponies as part of her plan, and most of the Pokemon joined it…all but Sceptile who just watched the whole thing.

"Kids." The final stage creature muttered as he even watched his human partner join in on the laugh fit. Once the demon trees were dealt with the group went on their way while still chuckling a bit until they stopped at a raging stream.

"How are we gonna cross this?" The laughter factor questioned as the group stood behind Ash. As they all began to think of a solution Pikachu heard something near them.

"Hear that?" The rodent questioned while looking around. The girls, and his brothers, saw this and began to listen as well. Eventually they all heard something and followed it to the source.

"A Gyrados with arms and facial hair now that's just odd." Ash thought as they saw an orange haired sea-serpent throwing a temper tantrum.

"What a world! What a world!" The creature said as he threw his tantrum not noticing the group of thirteen walking over to him.

"Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?" Twilight questioned the beast before them for a reason for this outburst.

"Well, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just wisped past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid." The beast said before splashing back into the unstable water. Because of the elemental difference Quilava hid under the bull when a huge splash of water fell on top of them.

"Oh, gimme a break." The speedy one questioned after hearing that useless sob story.

"That's what all this fuss is about?" The honest woman questioned as she, like most of the others, were dripping wet.

"No problem. Pikachu, use Iron Tail on the other mustache to even it out." Ash called out. The rodent was about to do just that until the beautician spoke out.

"Don't even think about it Pikachu." She shouted out while sporting a stare that made the rodent point at his partner and say…

"It was his idea." Even though he was on the spot the human had a thought of his own…

"Why would Nightmare Moon want half of a mustache?' and could only picture that evil one using it to give her an old fashioned villain mustache since fighting was his strength the trainer passed the buck to the white/purple one.

"I can't believe that you can be so insensitive." She said to the team which caused the human to feel a little sheepish, but still watched what her plan was. "Oh, just look at him. Such lovely luminous scales." She said to the beast while rubbing her hoof on his scaly goatee.

"I know." He answered back, and was starting to feel a little better.

"Your expertly quaffed mane." She went on to speak of his look.

"Oh, I know. I know." He said as he was starting to feel even better.

"Your fabulous manicure." She went on, and it was then that this was a creature that understood his desire to look gorgeous.

"It's so true." He said back; practically gushing at her observations.

"All ruined without your beautiful mustache." She pointed out causing him to recall his uneven facial hair.

"It's true. I'm hideous!" He exclaimed while trying to hide his shame with his skinny arms over his long face.

"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected." She declared before biting the beast, and pulled out one of his scales.

"What did you do that for?" He questioned to the creature he thought understood her, but she was simply a bully.

"Rarity, what are you…" Twilight questioned, but that was as far as she got before seeing her plan first hand. The creature fainted after seeing it, and stayed there with his head over the water.

'Now to work.' The beauty based one thought as she used her magic to tie her tail to the creature's incomplete mustache.

"My mustache! How wonderful!" The beast said after a small laughing fit.

"You look smashing." She said back at him, and it was then that one of them in the party decided to say something.

"Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail." TS said while looking at the hack job on her friend's tail. Ordinarily he would have tried to laugh, like he did when Team Rocket gave Misty that beauty treatment, but he thought such a move from such a creature didn't deserve laughter.

"Oh, it's fine my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." Rarity said while wagging her tail a bit. Her comment caused one of the others to speak up.

"So would the mustache." RD said to the new pony in a whispering way.

"While it grows back I know that you'll be able to pull the look off, and soon everyone will want to follow that trend." Ash said with a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Ash." She said back always grateful that he would give them such praise.

"We can cross now." The student informed and began to wade through the water until the serpents tail came rising out of the water in a zigzag style.

"Allow me." The serpent said before diving his head under the water, and with that the team hopped over, and continued on their way.

"There it is! The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight shouted with great joy after the team came out of another thick chunk of jungle. "We made it!" She exclaimed before going into a full gallop.

"Twilight, wait for us." The farm girl shouted as the rest of them followed after her. As they did that the trainer spotted the small stone pillars, and knew he saw them somewhere else.

"We're almost there." She shouted back, and it was then the hero remembered where he saw them and what they did causing him to pick up the pace. He was able to grab and pull her tail when she ran out of ground.

"What's with you and falling off cliffs today?" RD questioned with a somewhat humorous tone in her voice. The group then saw what Ash knew was there: an even deeper chasm.

"Now what?" The laughter one asked as she looked at the distance between their side and the ruin's side.

"Duh." The blue one said while flapping her wings a bit before getting to work.

"Oh, yeah." The pink one countered as she watched her friend fly off.

"Pidgeot, go with her." Ash instructed which the creature did as he asked. The two of them swooped down: Pidgeot grabbed a wooden plank with his talons while the Pegasus grabbed a rope. The two were about to get to work until something was heard.

"Rainbow. Rainbow." The voice called out from the fog around them.

"Who's there?" The pony in question questioned while looking around. Seeing that she was occupied the new bird in town grabbed the rope with his beak, and held it for her. "I ain`t scared a you! Show yourself!" She proclaimed while standing on her hind hooves and acted like a Hitmonchan.

"We have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria." The voice said which confused the pony.

"Who?" She asked with pure curiosity since she would like to know that too.

"Why, you, of course." The voice called out which gave her ego a bit of a boost.

"Really?!" She said with an excited squeak before countering with, "I mean, oh yeah! Me!" She then decided to test her luck. "Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind tellin` the Wonderbolts that, would ya? Cause I've been tryin` to get into that group for, like, ever!" She asked the voice of unknown origin.

"No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us - The Shadowbolts." A female in a dark themed jumpsuit said as she and two others galloped into view. "We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria, but first - we need a captain." The female explained which the last part really caught the attention of the speed factor. "The most magnificent." The female tried brown-nosing to seal the deal.

"Yep." RD answered back.

"Swiftest." The other girl added.

"Yes!" RD agreed with a bigger smile.

"Bravest flyer in all the land." The girl said which she believed would seal the deal.

"Yes! It's all true!" She said while feeling her ego grow.

"We need you." The other girl said while whispering the last word right in Rainbow Dash's ear.

"Wah-hoo! Sign me up!" She exclaimed before remembering the rather large bird in the area. "Just let me help Pidgeot tie this bridge real quick, and then we have a deal." She explained, but was slammed away from the bird before she could grab the chunk of rope hanging from his beak.

"No! It's them or us?" The girl said which seemed to have put a lot of pressure on the flyer of good.

"Hey! Pidgeot! Rainbow! What's the hold up?" Ash shouted out to the other side of the gap. It was then Ash and the others saw the creatures before their winged friend.

"Oh no. Rainbow!" Twilight shouted out, but the newest female didn't like interruptions so she caused the fog to encase the bridge and the bird. "Don't listen to them!" She shouted out seconds before the fog formed before them.

"Well?" The Shadowbolt woman questioned after moving the fog.

"You." She admitted, but saw the three smile, so she decided to explain what she meant: "Thank you, for the offer I mean." She then walked over to the Poke-flyer and helped him with the bridge. "But I'm afraid I have to say - no." She said while in the air before zipping off to the others.

'Good choice.' The flying type thought with a smile as he followed after her. Unknown to either of them the three Shadowbolts turned into three purple clouds then into one before hurrying off somewhere else.

"See? I never leave my friends hangin`." Rainbow explained to Twilight after receiving compliments for what the two of them did. The new pony was starting to get the feeling that she could really trust these girls, the Pokemon, and even Ash as they were crossing the bridge. "Whoa." She said in awe once the group made it inside.

"Come on, Twilight. Isn't this what you've been waitin` for?" Apple Jack questioned to the sixth pony who by passed the twelve others to see them for herself.

"The Elements of Harmony. We found them." She said with great joy that this mission was just about over. The winged ponies along with the gecko, who leapt onto the center orb, and grabbed a couple of the stones while the flyers took one a piece. "Careful. Careful." She instructed to the three who were placing the fall spheres on the ground.

"1, 2, 3, 4...there's only five." Pinkie Pie pointed out after counting them all. This only confused the group greatly.

"Where'd that sixth one go." The Water type stated as he looked at the pedestal again, but saw no stragglers.

"The book said: when the five are present a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed." The studier said to the others, and as the ponies, and most of the Pokemon were as well: Ash was not.

'So they have one too.' Ash thought as he recalled a prophecy from his world, '_Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, and thus the earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea._' The hero recalled the whole thing, and knew what he now had to do.

"What in the hey is that supposed to mean?" AJ questioned the book smart one since she has never heard of such a thing.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen." Twilight warned them before concentrating.

"Come on, ya`ll she needs to concentrate." The farm girl instructed since she had a feeling that her new friend couldn't do that with all of them watching.

"Go with them. I'm going to see if Aura can help." Ash said to his team, who were by the door, but stopped to turn and face their trainer since he did not move. Without a word they did just that, and the trainer stuck his hand out and concentrated as well.

"Thanks for the save back there, by the way, Tauros." The orange/blonde one said to the bull as they recalled his pillow move, and let her slide back down onto the battlefield.

"Oh, it was nothing." He said back, and was about to add something to that until a startled yelp caught his ears.

"Ash/Twilight!" The twelve shouted out after hearing that startled yelp. Back inside there was a familiar purple cloud, now in cyclone mode, before them with the sought after within it.

"The elements!" The hero/heroine shouted before jumping into it before the form of wind vanished as soon as back-up appeared.

"Ash! Twilight! Where are you?" The apple wrangler questioned as everyone looked around the room for any sign of them.

"Over here!" The electrical enforcer shouted out causing all to look in his direction and saw what he wanted them to see. A decaying tower with a bright light shooting of the windows. "Let's get moving." The first Pokemon said to them before rushing away with the others right behind him.

"You okay?" Ash questioned as he held the young one in a protective manner. The student gave him a nod with a small smile, but the smile ceased when she saw their opponent with the gems.

"Your kidding?" Nightmare Moon questioned as Ash with Aura infused fists, and Twilight with a look of determination in her eyes stood ready to fight her. "Your kidding right?" She asked again, but her only answer was of the two charging right at her. Seeing no harm in the glowing fists or horn she charged at them, but before a blow could connect the disappeared.

"Ugh!" Twilight said after they reappeared before the stones. "Just one spark. Come on! Come on!" She said to the rocks around her.

"You might want to hurry it up." The human pointed out as he could see the enemy horse was not pleased at what was happening.

'I will not be defeated by a bunch of Philleys and monsters.' Moon thought before turning into dust and reappeared before the two. As Twilight was hit by a recoil Ash was sucker blasted because he let his guard down.

'That hurt.' The protector of Pallet Town thought as he slid along side the studious one. The two of them propped themselves up and saw that her wish did happen.

"No! No!" The mare of madness shouted as she saw the five gems come to life. The duo felt rather pleased that this was going off without a hitch until…nothing.

"But, where's the sixth element?" Twilight questioned once she and the human got back on their feet. Nightmare laughed evilly because of the epic fail, and then stomped the ground as hard as she could to shatter all of them in one go.

"You little foal and monster! Thinking you two can defeat me?! Now, you will never see your princess again or your sun. The night will last forever!" Nightmare Moon declared at the two of them.

"I've heard all this stuff before, you know. You're not the first would be conqueror I've fought, and you'll fall just like the rest of them." Ash said to the opponent with an unwavering look in his eyes which caught them both by surprise.

'How? We don't have the Elements of Harmony. We don't have the princess to help us out. So, how is it that Ash still believes that we are going to win?' Twilight thought as she looked at the creature beside her with fists ready to go a couple of rounds.

"Very well. If you feel confident that victory is yours then I will end you then the little foal." The wicked winged one said and decided impalement would be the best idea for that. When she got halfway there three shadows came from the doorway behind them.

"Leave our boss alone." One of them shouted before unleashing a powerful flame attack from his mouth while the others did the same with water, and a seed barrage. A cloud soon appeared obstructing the dark one's vision which caused three more attacks.

"We mean it." One of the three other shouted before giving their opponent a powerful electrical tackle move as the others followed it with a speed attack, and a powerful head butt.

"Thank you, my brothers." Ash said to the group around him before adding, "Good work on mastering the Zen Headbutt attack, Tauros." It was at that time the sixth horse heard some chatter coming from the stairs, worried chatter, and after seeing the six in action the student finally understood it all.

"You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong. Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here." She exclaimed as the others arrived on the scene.

"What is this?" Nightmare Moon questioned aloud as she watched as the fragments of the rocks begin to glow.

"Apple Jack - who reassured me when I was in doubt represents the spirit of honesty." Twilight explains as several rock pieces floated around her.

'Good job.' The bull thought as he watched the stones surround her.

"Flutter shy - who tamed the manticore with her compassion represents the spirit of kindness." TS continued and the same thing happened to her with the stones. "Pinkie Pie - who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger represents the spirit of laughter." She continued causing the same to happen to the pink one.

'They suit you.' The Water based beast thought as he saw the stone show.

"Rarity - who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift generosity." Twilight went on as the another stone circle was created. "And Rainbow Dash - who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desires represents the spirit of loyalty." She added as the final ring appeared.

It is due to the spirits of these five ponies that helped us get past all of the challenges you threw our way." Ash explained to the villain and he saw that she was starting to get scared.

"You still don't have the sixth element. The spark didn't work." Nightmare said as she recalled only destroying five stones.

"But it did. I different kind of spark." The sixth pony explained before turning to her friends and added, "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you. To see you. How much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside of me when I realized that you all are my friends." Twilight said as she looked at the seven beside them, and it was then the sixth stone was revealed.

'I knew you would get it eventually.' Ash thought since he had seen it throughout their journey that the twelve of them really were her friends.

"You see Nightmare Moon when those elements are ignited by the…spark that resides in the hearts of us all. It creates the sixth element - the element of Magic." Twilight explained causing the circling stones to become five necklaces, and the sixth to become a crown. With their combined power a rainbow beam shot right at her.

'What…what is that?' Nightmare Moon thought while screaming in pain. The thing that she was seemed like the human, but different with blue, red, green, and yellow as his skin. Sadly before she could wonder what that meant the Elements of Harmony finished her off.

"My head!" Rainbow said to the others after the explosion of power leveled out.

"Every-pony okay?" Apple Jack questioned while doing a quick head count and everyone seemed to be with them.

"Oh, thank goodness!" A voice called out behind her this caused everyone to look at Rarity out of concern.

"Oh, Rarity, it's so lovely." Fluttershy said as she looked at a new piece to the generous one's build.

"I know. I'll never part with it again." She exclaimed while swaying her tail a bit before snuggling with it.

"No, your necklace. It looks just like your Cutie Mark." Fluttershy explained as she clarified what she meant. The beauty based one looked at the two items in question before turning her sights to the others.

"So does yours." She said to the timid one of the team. The kind one saw that she was right which the others were doing the same.

"Look at mine! Look at mine!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced happily around the room before stopping before the sea gator who looked at his reflection in the balloon shaped gem and laughed about it.

"Aw yeah!" Rainbow said with a bit of pride in her tone as she admired her lightning bolt necklace. Ash then motioned over to the sixth member of the team who was sporting something other than a necklace.

"Gee, Twilight. I thought you were spouting a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the Elements of Friendship." The farm girl said to their field leader, and it was then a new voice spoke.

"Indeed you do." The voice said and that's when they all saw a bright light coming from outside the window - the sun…and something more. Ash and his team saw five of them bow down so he, and his team did the same - even Sceptile.

"Princess Celestia." The crown bearer said with a smile - happy to see her mentor alive and well.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student." The white one with a light mane said before nuzzling the purple one once she was close enough. "I knew you could do it." She said with a smile.

"But…you told me it was all an old Pony Tale?" Her student questioned seeming confused at this confession of faith.

"I told you that you that you needed to make some friends - not ignore." The royal one corrected the student. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her. Which you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart." She explained before looking at the ponies and the monsters.

'She's in charge of this whole place?' Ash questioned to himself while gazing at the lady in question.

"Now, if only another will as well." Celestia explained which caused them to look at her in confusion. "Princess Luna." She said causing the creature in question to wake up with a gasp of alarm. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister." She said after laying down before the vanquished villain.

'Sister?' The group thought after hearing that, but could not believe it one bit.

"Will you accept my friendship?" The royal elder questioned after standing upright. Everyone leaned in close to hear the answer even though the comical duo leaned in so far they fell flat on their faces.

"I'm so sorry! I've missed you so much, big sister." The freed one said as she nuzzled into her sister's neck.

"I've missed you two." The elder said as she was truly grateful of having her sister back by her side. As Pinkie Pie started to cry about this Ash decided to do what he did best - make new friends.

"Excuse me, your majesties, but I'd like to introduce myself." Ash said while kneeling before the two who stopped crying to look at him. "I am Ash Ketchum, and these are some of my friends: Pikachu, Pidgeot, Sceptile, Quilava, Totodile, and Tauros." He said to the two while pointing at the creatures by name before offering his hand out.

"It is good to meet you. I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna." The white sister said as she accepted his hand, but it took the other a few moments to shake; there was something about this boy that put her fear at ease - at least for now.

"Hey! You know what this calls for?" The laughable one questioned once her crying fit was over. "A Party!" She cheered out once they were out of the forest.

"Ash/Twilight!" Bayleef and Spike shouted out as they made their way past the crowd and to the two in question - more than happy to greet them. Once the Princess who came by chariot, which was waiting for them at the entrance of the forest, dismounted everyone bowed. In Charizard, Garchomp, and Beedrill's case bow their heads down.

'It is good to be here with you, sister.' Luna thought after a couple of Pegasus horses gave her a flower necklace. As the royal ones were being introduced to Ash's whole team the sixth pony suddenly realized the tragic flaw in this plan of hers.

"Why so glum my faithful student?" Celestia questioned after dismissing herself from a hand to hoof shake with Primeape after seeing an unhappy look on TS's face. "Are you not happy that your quest is complete, and you can return to your studies at Canterlot?" She questioned since she knew that this was what Twilight wanted more than anything.

"That's just it. Just when I learn how wonderful it is to have friends I have to leave them." Twilight explained while looking at the six ponies, her brother, Ash, and all of his Pokemon as she said that.

"Spike, take a note please." The older horse stated and after hearing a cough from the dragon in question she carried on with, "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn - Twilight Sparkle, shall take on a new mission for Equestria: she must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville." This got both pony and Pokemon excited of hearing that. So much so that Snorlax walked over and gave all six of them a big hug.

"Oh, thank you Princess Celestia. I'll study harder than ever before." The student said as she enjoyed the embrace from the large Pokemon. As that was going on Ash secured the special packages in the chariot, and saw Muk letting Luna step in place on top of him for fun.


	4. Chapter 4

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 3

The Ticket Master

It had been about a week since the purification of the little sister, and everything was going great. Ash, Apple Jack, and Twilight Sparkle had gotten done with apple picking and was heading back to the farm. "Ash, Twilight thank you kindly for helping me out. I bet Big Macintosh I could get all these Golden Delicious in the barn by lunch time. If I win he's gonna walk up Stir-up street in one of granny's girdles." Apple Jack explained and ended it with a chuckle.

"No problem at all, Apple Jack." Ash answered back as he brought up the rear; walking around the apples Spike was tossing out of his sister's baskets.

"I'm just grateful the goal is lunch time. All this work is making me hungry." Twilight said while knowing what her scaly chum was doing on her back.

"I know. Right." The dragon said after tossing an apple and it hit his ride on the head causing him to give her an innocent smile, and pray that she buys it. The Magic user decides to point something out to the tag-along.

"Please Spike, you've been lounging on my back all morning long while we worked." She stated, but the dragon was ready with a reply of his own.

"Exactly. You three were taking so long I missed snack time." Spike told them as they continued on their way to the barn. Ketchum did have to chuckle because the dragon's comment was something he would say since he too was almost always hungry, but at the moment he focused on their duty.

"I guess we better get some food." The purple pony stated as she heard her stomach rumbling, but then there was a second rumble. "What was?" She asked before seeing the monster tamer blush so she had a feeling that it came from him.

"Nope. Worm. Ah-ha!" The reptile exclaimed as he yanked out fifteen not good ones, but on the sixteenth shot he found just the one he was looking for.

"Spike, that looks delicious!" The helper said after seeing the shiny red apple in his claws, and believed he picked it for her, but in a second it was already in his stomach. "Spike." She shouted at him out of anger.

"What?" The dragon questioned since he believed to have done nothing wrong. As soon as it was down something else came up.

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia." The student said as she and the others watched the scroll slowly come down to the ground. The messenger decided to do his thing.

"Hear ye. Hear ye. Her grand royal Highness Princess Celestia of Equestria is pleased to announce that the Grand Galloping Galle to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot on the 21st day of…yadda, yadda, yadda. Corgerly extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest." Spike informed while skipping over some useless information. The two gals heard this and instantly became giddy with joy.

"The Grand Galloping Galle." The two of them said while looking at one another with smiles on their faces. The tall one of the group wondered what was so special about the GGG. "The Grand Galloping Galle." The two said again as they pranced in placed to either side of their male companions.

'Gag me.' Spike thought as he had his mouth open and his right forefinger in his mouth. At that moment the items in question came out with a burp. "Look, two tickets." He said after taking them from the air.

"Wow, great! I've never been to the Galle. Have you, Spike?" Twilight stated and questioned to the dragon before her.

"No. And I plan to keep it that way. I don't want any of that girly-girl frou-frou nonsense." He said to her and meant every word…at least a part of him did. Ketchum was still confused about this whole thing.

"Oh, come on, Spike. A dance would be nice." The studious one stated and wondered if her 'little brother' said that because as a dragon he views himself an outsider to ponies.

"Nice?! It's a heap of more then just nice. I'd love to go." Apple Jack said to her friend before explaining the why, "Land sakes! If I had an apple stand set up. Ponies would be charmed by the taste of it till the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres. Why, with all that money we can do a heap a fixin up around here. We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big Macintosh could replace that rusty old plow, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip. Why, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that Galle." The honesty holder said as she envisioned a line as far as they eye could see at her little stand along with the changes she spoke of.

"Oh, in that case would you…" The guest was about to go for the plus one until they all heard a shout of sorts. Before the hero could save them a blue blur fell on top of both girls.

"Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Galle?" The blue pony of their party questioned while still lying on top of them. The two knew that voice and one of them was not pleased to hear her.

"Rainbow Dash." The farm girl said before standing up, and continued with, "You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples. What were you busy doing - spying?" The friend was insulted by that claim and decided to come clean.

"No, I was busy - napping." The speed factor said, and it was then Ash saw a pillow and cover hanging on a tree branch.

'Maybe I shouldn't have called Pidgeot back.' The mortal thought since he knew that the speedy one saw his speedy flyer as a competitor to keep her on her hooves.

"And I just happen to hear that you have an extra ticket." The female flyer said as she flew upside down in front of the ticket holder with a smile on her face. This caused the student some minor discomfort since she had a feeling that this was going to get worse before it got better.

"Yeah, but…" She replied but was cut off before she could finish.

"YES!" Rainbow exclaimed happily before she explained why she was so happy. "This is so awesome! The Wonderbolts perform at the Grand Galloping Galle every year. I can see it now - everyone would be watching the skies. Their eyes riveted on the Wonderbolts, but then in would fly - Rainbow Dash! I would draw their attention with my Super Speed Strut. Then I would mesmerize them with my amazing Philley flash, and for my grand finale the buccaneer blaze. The ponies would go wild! The Wonderbolts would insist that my signiture moves be incorporated in their routine, and then welcome me as their newest member." The others could see what she was talking about, but the monster tamer saw a flaw in her plan, but decided to stay quiet about it. "Don't you see Twilight, this could be my one chance to show `em my stuff." She offered while flying a bit into the air and flexing her upper leg biceps. "You've got to take me!" She exclaimed before feeling a familiar feeling in her tail.

"Hold on just one pony picking minute, here." The farm girl said with a mouth full of tail before spitting it out and continued with, "I asked for that ticket first." She pointed out but the loyal one decided to point out a fact about that.

"So? That doesn't mean you own it." She answered back, but her friend was ready with a comment of her own.

"Oh yeah? I challenge you to a hoof wrastle. Winner gets the ticket." AJ offered causing the two to go to the nearest tree stump, lock hooves and start their match.

'I wonder who will win?' Ketchum thought as he felt his competitive side getting excited about seeing this contest. Before a winner could be decided a voice stopped them.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted while pushing them away from one another. "These are my tickets. I will decide who gets it; thank you very much. Whoever has the best reason to go should get the ticket. Don't you think?" She added after separating them.

'Good call.' Ash thought as he watched the two of them stand shoulder to shoulder with one another.

"Drumming up business for the farm?" AJ offered after taking a step forward.

"A chance to audition for the Wonderbolts?" RD offered after taking a step in front of his fellow Harmony Holder.

"Money to fix Granny's hip?" AJ offered after taking point again.

"Livin the dream?" RD offered after taking point again. The kind hearted duo now realized that this may have been a bad idea after hearing their reasons to go.

"Oh my. Those are all pretty good reasons, aren't they?" The purple pony said to them before hearing her and Ash's stomach rumbling. "Listen to that. I am starving. I don't know about you, but I can't make important decisions on an empty stomach. So, uh, I'll think about it over Lunch, and get back to you two, okay?" Twilight offered while Spike got back on her back and the two walked off.

"Okay." Honesty and Loyalty answered back with disappointment in their voices before going back to hoof wrestling. Ash saw the two scenes, and knew what to do about them.

"Bulbasaur, Bayleef, Primape - come on out!" Ash shouted out after throwing three Poke`balls into the air. Once they were out he added, "Listen guys, I'm going to head into town, but I need you three to take these apples to Sweet Apple Acres barn. That is - if your up to it?" The human offered to his partners.

"No problem." The three answered as one before picking up the apples, and with the aid of vines and boxing gloves to carry the cargo the three were off.

"Come into town after your done, and no eating the produce on the way." Ash hollered out to them before setting off into town since he believed that things were only going to get worse for his new friend. Once he got into town the Electrical Enforcer walked up to him.

"How was the apple picking?" The rodent questioned with a smile since he was hoping for a bite. Even though he knew his partner never did a good did for any kind of reward, but because it's the right thing to do; still it never hurt to hope.

"Not bad. Have you seen Twilight pass by here?" Ash asked and after pointing the way Ketchum picked up his first Pokemon, and followed her.

"So, who you going to give the ticket to, Twilight?" Spike questioned as he held onto the items in question. She wished he didn't say that, but she still answered him.

"I don't know, Spike, but I really can't think straight when I'm hungry. So, where should we eat?" The sister said, and could have sworn she heard galloping, but ignored it which was a bad move since she was quickly body checked by the happy-go-lucky pony.

"Aah! Aah! Bats! Bats on my face! Help!" Pinkie shouted out after seeing something on her nose. Ash, who heard the cry for help, hurried in that direction, and was about to explain her situation, but she figured it out on her own. "Wait! These aren't…tickets to the Grand Galloping Galle!" She shouted in excitement.

'Another pony for Twilight to consider. That's great.' Ash thought and felt even more sorry for his new friend's plight.

"It's the most amazing, incredible, tremendous, super, wonderful, terrifically wonderful party in all of Equestria. I've always, always wanted to go." The happy one said before singing about her reasons to go, "Oh, the Grand Galloping Galle is the best place for me! Oh, the Grand Galloping Galle is the best place for me! Hip-Hip Hooray! It's the best place for me! For Pinkie! With decorations of streamers, and fairy lights, and pinwheels, and piñatas, and pincushion. With goodies likes Sugar Cubes, and sugar canes, sundaes, and sun beams, and sarsaparilla. And I get to play my favoritest of favorite fantabulous games like Pine the tail on the Pony. Oh, the Grand Galloping Galle is the best place for me! Oh, the Grand Galloping Galle is the best place for me! Cause it's the most galloping super-terrific Galle ever! In the whole Galaxy! Whee!" Ash heard it all, and could only chuckle about it.

"You got to love her enthusiasm, eh pal?" Ketchum questioned his rodent friend who only shrugged since he still didn't know what to think of that one.

"Oh, thank you, Twilight. It's the most wonderfullest gift ever!" Pinkie exclaimed while hopping around, and stopped with a face to face meeting with the ticket bearer as she sported a big grin to show how happy she was.

"Um, actually…" The book-smart one started to speak, but drifted because she didn't know how to put her thoughts into words for her happy-go-lucky friend.

"Ash!" Pikachu shouted as he pointed over to where Spike was, and even though the rodent didn't know what exactly was going on he knew that it had something to do with those shiny pieces of paper in the young dragon's claw.

"Oh brother." The Pallet Town protector muttered as he saw yet another factor to the Elements of Harmony right behind the green/purple beast.

"Are these what I think they are?" Rarity questioned after a gasp of surprise which caused the dragon to turn and face his crush.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Twilight is taking me to the Grand Galloping Galle in Canterlot!" Laughter shouted out to Generosity which caused the white/purple pony to explain her reason to go to the event.

"The Galle? I design ensembles for the Galle every year, but I've never had the opportunity to attend. Oh the society, the culture, the glamour. It's where I truly belong, and where I'm destined to meet…him!" Rarity explained her part in the party which the others did find fascinating, but not as fascinating as the last word in her last sentence.

"Him!…who?" Pinkie questioned since she knew everyone in town, so the person her friend was talking about had to be a native of Canterlot.

"Him. I would stroll to the Galle, and everyone would wonder 'who is that mysterious mare.' They would never guess that I was a simple pony from little old Ponyville. I would cause such a sensation that I would be invited for an honor with Princess Celestia herself, and the Princess would be so taken with the style and elegance that she would introduce me to - him. Her nephew - the most hansom, eligible, unicorn stallion in Canterlot. Our eyes would meet, our hearts would melt, our courtship would be magnificent. He would ask for my hoof in marriage, and of course I would say - YES! We would have a royal wedding befitting a princess which is what I would become upon marrying him: the stallion of my dreams." She explained to them before coming to reality and added, "Twilight, I simply cannot believe that you would invite Pinkie Pie so that she would party, and prevent me from marrying my true love." This put further strain on the ticket holder.

'She barely knows the guy, so how does she know that?' Ash thought and had a gut feeling that the white unicorn was in for a big disappointment.

"How could you?" The fashion expert said before turning her back on her pal with a 'humph'. While all this was going on a creature sped over to Spike, grabbed the tickets, and sped off to another factor of the Elements of Harmony.

"Angel, these are perfect." Kindness said to the bunny hanging onto her mane while showing off what was in her mouth. The Magic factor decided to explain one simple thing to the two before her.

"Uh…listen guys, I haven't decided who to give the extra ticket to." She informed which caught both of their attention.

"You haven't?!" Rarity and Pinkie Pie said as one, but before either of them could probe the subject any further a voice spoke from behind them.

"Um…excuse me, Twilight. I would just like to ask. I mean, if it would be alright…if you haven't given it to someone else…" FS said while finding it hard to come right out and ask the sixth member of their little group, but they got the gist of her statement.

"You?!" R questioned to FS and added, "You want to go to the Galle?" She was curious of that because the timid one never struck her as a party goer.

"Oh, no." Fluttershy answered back since she believed to have missed her chance, and was planning on leaving it at that until she felt a rapid tapping on her upper left leg so she continued with, "I mean, yes, or actually kinda. You see - it's not so much the Grand Galloping Galle as it is the wonderous private gated garden that surrounds the dance. The flowers are said to be the most beautiful most fragrant in all of Equestria. For the night of the Galle, and that night alone will they all be in bloom. And that's just the flora don't get me started on the fauna. There's Loons, tucanns, bidens, oh-my. Humming birds that really hum, and buzzards that really buzz. There's blue-jays, and red-jays, green-jays, pink-jays, and Pink Flamingos." She was such in a happy place that she was flying in place and holding her bunny at the same time.

"Gee, Fluttershy, it sounds…beautiful." TS said back and meant it since it all sounded great. Her decision was put at a halt again thanks to a familiar voice.

"Wait just a minute!" The speed factor, who gave up on the hoof wrestle, shouted down from her rooftop spot.

"Rainbow Dash. Were you following me?" The student asked as the flyer landed before her.

"No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Look, it doesn't matter. I couldn't risk a goody four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just any body." The speed factor said after being tongue tied at first, but was able to recover at the end.

"Wait just another minute." The other half of the hoof wrestle shouted out causing the ticket holder to turn to her right.

"Apple Jack, were you following me too?" Twilight questioned and prayed not. Ketchum wondered about his friends before feeling a tapping going on to his back.

"Sorry, boss. They were gone by the time we put the apples up." The pig monkey said as he and the two grass types walked up to him.

"It's okay. I should have known they wouldn't have stayed there." The taller creature answered back before listening to the rest of the conversation.

"No. I was following this one. To make sure she didn't try any funny business. Still tryin to take my ticket." Apple Jack said which caused the Pegusus to become a little miffed.

"Your ticket?!" Dash shouted but before she could add anything Laughter spoke out.

"But Twilight's taking me!" The pink one called out which started a chain reaction with the others. Their comments soon blended themselves together so well that not even the rodent could tell them apart.

"We better stop this. Pikachu, if you would be so kind?" The monster tamer stated which the creature in question was about to do just that until they all heard a voice scream above the others.

"QUIET!" Twilight shouted as loud as she could that made even Ash and his friends silent.

"And I said - Oatmeal, are you craz…" Pinkie said but stopped when she didn't hear any one else talk. This caused the ticket bearer to become the center of attention again.

"Girls, there's no use in arguing." TS explained to them, and the generose one decided begging again.

"But Twili-." R whined, but was stopped.

"Eh!" She shouted while stopping Rarity, and continued with, "This is my decision, and I'm gonna make it on my own. And I certainly can't think straight with all this noise…" A moment of stalling when a familiar rumbling sounded off. "Not to mention hunger." She said after hearing her stomach rumble and added, "Now go on. Shoo!" She saw them leave and grumble about the situation. "And don't worry I'll figure this out….somehow." She said as the group was leaving, and prayed that they weren't too mad at her.

"That went well." Ash said as he and the others walked over to the ticket holder. "Come on. Let's get some chow." He said after giving her a friendly noogie, and recalling the three others. The group of four, Spike rejoined them after realizing she meant the 'shoo' comment to just the other ponies, sat down on some piles of straw at a restaurant.

"Oh, guys what am I going to do? All five of my best friends have really good reasons to go to the Galle. Apple Jack or Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy. Rarity. Oh, who should go with me." TS said while magically picking petals of the flower in front of her, and even licked them up when her stomach rumbled.

"Have you made your decision?" The waiter questioned to the pony he was serving, and waited patiently for an answer.

"I can't decide!" She shouted back in anger.

"Sorry about this Twilight, but all he wanted to know was our order." Ketchum commented causing the ticket holder to become embarrassed of her outburst, but quickly recovered.

"Oh, I would love a daffodil n daisy sandwich." She said politely after collecting herself.

"What she said." Ash commend while thumbing to Twilight.

"Plain hay." The rodent stated.

"Do you have any rubies?" Spike questioned the waiter who did not answer. "No? Okay. I'll have the hay fries." He continued after realizing that shiny rocks were not on the menu.

"What do you think, Spike?" The sister asked the brother since she had a feeling the warrior and his old friend wouldn't have a straight answer for her.

"I think we have to try another resturaunt. I mean I like grass just fine, but would it hurt anybody to offer some gemstones." The brother answered back as he was still focusing on his stomach.

"I mean the Galle, the ticket, and who I should take." Twilight explained to try to keep the rest of the table focused on the subject at hand.

"Oh, your still on that?" The scaly one stated back while pinching the brim of his nose with his left claw. Again her strain over this situation caused another lash-out.

"Spike, listen." She shouted out while slamming her front hooves on the table which startled all three males at the table. In that state Ash saw rain clouds coming, so he went to work. "How do I choose, and when I do choose will the other four be mad at me." She said before adding her own plan, "I mean - I could give up my ticket and give away two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies. What if I…" Her ramble was cut short due to the waiter.

"Ah, your food." He said while handing out the four different orders.

"Oh, thank you. This looks so good. I'm sure everything will be much clearer once I eat." Twilight said before a stampede of ponies rushed past them which peaked her curiosity.

"Madam, are you going to eat your food in ze rain?" Their waiter questioned after giving the other ponies a chance to get into the building.

"It's not raining." She answered back and all of a sudden it was storming everywhere else except right at their table. "What's going on?" She questioned while looking up, and as she did that Ketchum put his plan into action since he had already eaten his sandwich.

"Hi there best friend forever I've ever, ever had. Enjoying the sunny weather?" The weather manipulator stated and questioned through the only hole in the stormy sky.

"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" The student questioned since she already had a feeling that this was a bribe of sorts. Still she at least decided to give the speed demon a chance to explain herself.

"What do you mean?" The blue one questioned sweetly before adding, "I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on, so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry so that she could dine in peace. That's all." The comment was heard, and now the ticket holder was certain of her guess.

"Rainbow, your not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by giving me extra special favors, are you." Twilight stated back while glaring right at her friend for a straight answer.

"Me? No. No. No. Of course not." RD answered back with a smile on her face and a wave of the hoof.

"Uh-huh." The sixth member said back in a disbelieving tone. She was so focused on the conversation that she did not feel the item on her back.

"Seriously. I'd do it for any pony." Rainbow answered back which caused the four to look and see several ponies that were not as lucky as them. Seeing what they were seeing caused RD to chuckle nervously since she knew that her chance had been blown.

"Rainbow, I am not comfortable accepting unwanted favors so I would appreciated if you close up that rain cloud right now." TS insisted to the weather controller.

"Ugh, fine!" Dash answered back before zipping up the hole she made for her friend.

"That's better." She said and was about to eat until she saw that her sandwich had become uneatable. 'How is this wet while I'm dry?' She thought before suddenly feeling something on her back and realized it was Ash's jacket; she also saw Spike had his hat.

"Hope that helps." Ash said with a smile on his face despite the fact that he was getting soaked. Before she could give him an answer a factor to the Elements of Harmony spoke.

"Twilight, it's raining." R pointed out to TS as she stood in the rain with an umbrella saddle.

"No. Really." The sorceress stated back, and was grateful that the tall man gave her some protection.

"Come with me before you catch a cold." The beauty based one said as she grabbed her new friend and dragged her back to her place with the three males traveling right behind.

"I'm just going to stay out here." Ash said as he let Spike take his backpack in. As soon as the rodent heard the sound of toenail on tile he unzipped the pack on his end and got out.

'Sure hope he's okay out there.' The electric mouse thought before turning to face this bribe strategy with his own two eyes.

"Oops. Sorry." Twilight said as she shook the jacket off, and it landed right on top of Rarity - still soaking wet.

"Oh, it's quit alright. After all…we are the best of friends are we not." The fashion expert said as she too tossed the jacket aside and nuzzled her head on the ticket holder's neck. "And you know what the best of friends do…make-overs." Rarity said as she answered her own question before summoning her blind which knocked the two smaller males away.

'This is going to get worse before it gets better.' Pikachu thought as he heard som commotion going on the other side of the blind. After a few moments the blind was moved away and the two saw that their friend was styling in a different saddle.

"There. Oh, your simply darling." Generosity said as she examined her work on her friend.

"Uh, yeah. It is kinda pretty, isn't it?" The student questioned as she looked at her outfit which Spike sported a gag-me pose which was stopped by the fashion designer.

"And you two. Oh, Spike, Pikachu, I have just the outfits for the dashing gents." Rarity said before summoning the blind again and after a few moments of struggling the blind was moved to reveal the two in traditional eigteenth century clothing.

"Oh, you two." Twilight said to the small creatures in their new outfits.

"Now all you need is a hat." Rarity said as she placed two new hats on the mouse and dragon. Neither of them were very happy over what they were wearing.

"I told you I don't want any part of this girly Gala gunk. See you back at the Library. Come on Pikachu." Spike said as he sped off and left his outfit behind. The electrical one on the other hand walked over to pick up the two fallen articles of clothing with his mouth, waved to the two, and then was on his way.

"Good. You were able to get my things back, Pikachu." Ash said as he saw his jacket and hat, so he took them and tossed the both of them into the air along with two Poke`balls. "Infernape - Ember. Squirtle - Water Gun." The hero called out, and the monkey and turtles attack hit each other and not the clothes.

'Wow. He used the power of steam to dry out his clothes - smart…which is odd." The first Poke`mon thought as he watched the steam vapors clean up his gear. He put it back on, and was amazed of how good it felt.

"Come on. We better follow Spike's advice, and head out to the library. She might need some emotional support when she gets home." Ash said to them, and with that decided the four headed off not knowing that there was another scheme on its way over.

"Oh, who needs them anyways. This is all about you." Rarity said as she pulled a mirror to truly show her ticket holding friend what she looked like in that saddle. "And how fabulous you'll look at the Grand Galloping Gale." She added, and it was then she realized the real reason for this gift.

"Wait. The Grand-." TS tried to speak, but was cut off by a gasp of acted alarm.

"And, oh, my goodness. What a coincidence. I happen to have an ensemble of my own that matches yours to a 'T'." Generosity said as she stood by a mannequin wearing a duplicate of Twilight's outfit. "We will be the bells of the ball - you and I. Everyone will be clamoring for our attention. All eyes will be on us, and everyone will finally know the most beautiful, most talented, most sophisticated pony in all of Equestria is - Rarity the Unicorn." She said after putting TS in a headlock, but after realizing her blunder she quickly added, "And Twilight Sparkle of course." Her save was denied by the other.

"I see what's going on. Your just buttering me up, so I give you the extra ticket. Well, it's not gonna work. You're going to have to wait for my decision just like everyone else. Now if you'll excuse me I've been trying all day just to get some Lunch." Twilight said while removing the saddle and storming out the door only to be cut off by the yellow/orange one.

"Did some-pony say - Lunch?" Apple Jack questioned before pulling the ticket holder out of the tailor's building, and over to her haul.

"You've got to be kidding me?!" The student questioned as she saw all the food in the simple wooden wagon, and knew that they were all for her.

"I've got: apple pie, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple dumplins, apple crisps, apple crumblers, and apple brown betty." AJ said before clarifying and asking, "Uh, the dessert; not my auntie. What so you say there, best friend?" She was about to answer, but her stomach beat her mouth. "Is that a 'yes'?" She questioned and it was then the purple knew that this was a bribe as well.

"No. No! I don't know who I'm giving the ticket to, and all these favors isn't making it easier to decide. In fact - I'm less sure now then I was this morning." Magic said to Honesty before letting out a frustrated groan, and galloped away.

"So, that's a maybe." Apple Jack questioned as she was unfazed by what her friend just said to her. The ticket holder on the other hand decided to go to the one place in Ponyville she thought she would be safe.

"I never thought being showered with favors would be so aggravating." Twilight said as she neared her home, but just as she was about to enchant the handles to the door she saw the Trainer, and his best friend sitting on the stoop.

"You don't want to go in there." Ash informed her before adding, "It's not pretty." TS heard AK, but could only picture creatures like Muk and Snorlax in her library, so she ignored his warning, opened the door, and went in.

"You did warn her." The electric mouse said as the door closed behind her. The studious one saw that it was clean, but mostly because of Kindness and some of her friends.

"Fluttershy, not you too." The ticket holder stated in disbelief since she seemed the last of the chosen six to pull something like this.

"Oh! Well, hello, Twilight. I hope you don't mind, but we're all doing a little Spring Cleaning." Kindness said to Magic as her cover for wanting the extra ticket.

"It's Summer." TS pointed out in an irritated tone since this cycle was starting to get old.

"Oh! Well…better late than never, right?" FS questioned with a smile and a blush since she had a feeling that her reason for doing this has been exposed. "It was Angel's idea." She added to shift the conversation to someone else which caused the white rabbit, who was tossing a salad, to salute to the ticket holder which did not mess up the chef hat he was wearing.

"You're not doing this for the ticket, are you?" Twilight questioned, and prayed for once today that the answer would be 'no'.

"Oh, no. I'm doing this because you're my very, best friend. Right, Angel?" The winged one informed while flapping down to the ground, and looked over at the long-earred one for reasurence.

'Seriously?' The bunny thought with paws on his hips.

"Oh! Yes, we are just doing this for the ticket." Flutter corrected herself before watching the helper to zip to the student with the freshly tossed salad in hand.

"No! No! No!" Twilight shouted as she heard her stomach rumble, and did not give the two any false hope. "Well, this was all very nice of you and Angel, but I'm not accepting any extra favors until I have made my final decision. So, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Twilight said as she opened the door, and pointed them out before the Laughter factor gave it a shot.

"Surprise!" Several ponies shouted outside her home causing the pink one to grab the purple one, and take her outside to see what she had done.

"Twilight is my bestest friend. Whoopee! Whoopee!" Pinkie shouted as four ponies tossed the ticket handler into the air.

"Pinkie." She called out in a calm tone.

"She's the cutest, smartest, over all best pony…pony." PP continued to sing before the group tossed her up again.

"Pinkie." TS said with a bit more force in her voice.

"I bet if I throw her an extra super-duper party; party." The party goer said as they threw her into the air again.

"Pinkie." The student said in a board tone.

"I bet she'll give her extra ticket to the Gale to me. To me." PP continued to sing, and it was at this moment the purple one has had enough.

"PINKIE!" Twilight shouted as loud as she could which caused the tossers to back away from her out of fear which in turn caused her to fall on her back.

"Yes, Twilight?" The party animal questioned with fluttering eyes.

"At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket." The studious one said as she rose to a sitting position not knowing that she had just jinxed herself.

"Wait. What ticket?" A citizen questioned since this sounded important.

"Oh, you didn't know. Twilight has an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gale." Pinkie Pie informed the group around them. Ash, who had went to the other side of the big tree to sleep, heard the info, and knew that TS's luck was about to go south in a hurry.

'I better help her.' The Trainer thought before rising to his feet, and walked over to the front of the tree. By the time he got there the citizens were crowding her with overlaying compliments, and even though Spike went out to try to help his sister the dragon really didn't have a plan.

"What are we going to do?" The dragon questioned since he was hoping that her big brain had prepared for this.

"We're gonna…" She started to speak, and stalled because she honestly had no idea until the form of the monster tamer was racing at them. "RUN!" She shouted before jumping up and landing on his back with the scaly one in his arms.

'Behind that wagon.' Ash thought and did so, but were spotted by two.

"Babies in a stroller." Twilight whispered after seeing an empty stroller just sitting there. Ash put on a ponsho and swapped his hat for an older one, Twilight wore a formal cloak and hood that was with the stroller. Pikachu and Spike were in baby appearal that was already in the wheeled object.

'Can't believe that worked.' The babies thought after hearing the stampede rush past them, but the team dumped that idea, and went for something else.

"Over there!" A citizen shouted after seeing the ticket holder running away from them. The group ran over a bridge not knowing that their targets were under it. The smaller of the four fell into the river.

'The clothing store.' Pikachu thought and ran to said building where TS dressed as a clown manaquin, Spike - hula girl, Pikachu - jester, Ash, removed his hat, jacket, and shirt to make - The Thinker. The crowd ran past the window causing the four to run, and kept running until they were cornered in an alley.

"Don't worry. I got just the thing to deal with these groupies." Ash said as he pulled a Poke`ball from his pocket, but before he could even enlarge it Twilight unknowingly teleported the four of them back to the library.

"Warn us next time you do that." Spike stated as he, Twilight, Ash, and Pikachu were a bit scorched because of the teleportation.

"I didn't even know it was going to happen!" She shouted back to her brother as the four dusted themselves off. "Now, quick lock the doors." She ordered before racing off.

'That's a little painful for a teleportation.' Pikachu thought before sensing something, and saw what he sensed. "Guys." The small rodent stated, but the three others were already on a mission. Twilight blew out the outdoor candles, Spike shut the doors, and Ash raced around and turned off all the lights.

'It's always good to turn off lights when you leave a room.' Ash thought before joining up with the other two. The three sighed in relief since now seemed as though they had a moment of rest. All of a sudden the room they were in lights came on. "Pikachu, what are you…" The partner questioned only to see the Electric type point to something which the others followed it, and saw what he did earlier.

"AAAAAHHHHH! I can't decide! I just can't decide! It's important to all of you, and I just can't disappoint any of you! And giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any different because you are all my friends, and I want to make you all happy, and I can't! I just can't!" Twilight shouted to the five as she was getting all of this off her chest, and the others were getting that they were only putting more strain on her by doing those things.

"Twilight, sugar, I didn't mean to put so much presure on you, and if it helps - I don't want the ticket anymore." Honesty said after walking over to the sixth one and put a compassionate hoof on her head. "You can give it to some-pony else. I won't feel bad. I promise." She added with a sincere tone.

"Me too. I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful." Kindness said after gliding from the ledge to where Twilight was.

"And me too. It's no fun upsetting your friends." Laughter commented to Fluttershy's statement.

"Twilight, it was unfair of me to force you as I did." Generosity stated which was her style of an apology.

"Yes! That means the ticket is mine! I got the ticket. I got the ticket." Loyalty said while flying in place - feeling great about this news until she saw that four Elements of Harmony, Spike, and Ash were giving her a disappointed look. What really got her was the mouse with sparks coming from his red cheeks, and from what Pidgeot told her - flying types that came across that brother were in serious pain before they knew what hit them. "You know…I haven't perfected my signiture moves for the Wonder Bolts anyway. I don't need that ticket either." She added which seemed to be what they wanted to hear.

"Good call." Pikachu whispered before looking over at the keeper of the tickets.

"We all got so gung-ho about going to the Gale that we couldn't see how un-gung-ho we were making you." Apple Jack said as to help express just how sorry they were about the whole thing.

:We're sorry, Twilight." The others said in a meaningful tone.

"Spike, take down a note." TS said as she was feeling much better about this whole thing. The dragon found a paper and quill, and stood ready.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I have learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there are not enough blessings to go around having more for your friends could feel kind of awful. So, though I appreciate the invitations I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Galle." Twilight said which caused a slight alarm.

"What!" The five others shouted in alarm, but the student stayed focused on the letter.

"If my friends can't all go. I don't want to go either." She added while turning to face her friends.

"Twilight, you don't have to do that." AJ said to her even though she knew that she was wasting her breath.

"Nope. I made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now." TS stated and watched the messenger walk over and opened a window before sending the letter on its way with the two tickets enclosed.

"Now, you won't get to go to the Galle either." Fluttershy pointed out.

"It's okay, girls. I couldn't possibly enjoy myself without my best friends there with me." Twilight answered back causing the five to feel really pleased with that, and gathered around her. "So, I'd rather not go at all." She added while seeing Ash and Pikachu nod to what she said.

"Well, wallop my withers pike. Isn't that just like a boy: Can't handle the least bit of sentiment. Whoa nelly!" Apple Jack said as she saw the dragon gagging on what was said, but dodged a flame that shot from his mouth.

"A letter from the Princess. That was fast." Twilight said as she saw the familiar C stamp on the scroll before them. Spike took the message from the air, and read it to them:

"My faithful student Twilight,

Why didn't you say so in the first place." An update on her earlier offer came forth.

"Six tickets to the Grand Galloping Galle!" Spike exclaimed before showing them off to the Elements of Harmony.

"Now we can all go." TS said to the rest of them causing cheering to be heard throughout the tree along with another noise.

"Allow us to treat you to dinner." Rarity commented, and with that Spike held the door open along with the tickets.

"What a great way to apologize." RD said as a ticket floated up to her as she TS and R were out the door.

"And to celebrate." Pinkie said while another ticket went to her. "Come on, everyone, the cupcakes are on me." She said as FS claimed her ticket. The dragon walked off with the last until it flew over to AJ on her way out.

"How come I don't get a ticket to the Galle?" Spike questioned once his claws were bare before belching up another scroll which gave him one as well. He walked out with great joy…until another sister figure - Apple Jack stood and stared at him. "I mean, gross. I have to go too." He tried to cover, but after a while the two laughed while catching up to the others.

"Come on. Let's go home." Ash said as he closed up for the seven, and once that was done he and Pikachu headed for home.

"Guess the Princess forgot about us." Pikachu said as they entered their temporary home.

"Don't say that, Pika-pal. Remember us and royalty never go well together." Ash said as they were heading for bed. The aura warrior could see his friend's questionable face, so he specified what he meant. "The Togepi kingdom had an evil dictator that we had to stop. Around the Cameron Palace we were forced to relive the legend." The creature understood that, but he knew what to counter with.

"What about Princess Silvia. Nothing bad happened there." Pikachu pointed out to the hero.

"Maybe, but one out of three isn't a good outcome." The monster tamer stated, and it was then the two heard a tapping on one of the windows, and saw that it was Gliscor.

"Boss, I have something for you." The ground/flying type said through his side of the window. Ash walked over and opened the window for him, and once inside the human saw something on the flyer's tail.

"That looks like the same thing those Pidgey Parcel Protagonists use." Ketchum commented as he removed the lid of the metal container. Within was a note:

"To the new hero - Ash Ketchum,

Most likely you know of the Grand Galloping Galle, and that Twilight, Spike, and their friends are going. To show my gratitude of your help to bring my sister back to the path of good I will invite you and six of your Pokemon to the party. I would have offered more, but I am not sure how the ponies of Canterlot view your Pokemon." The note said causing seven tickets to come out of the paper.

"I guess the choices are up to me. I'll get on it…in the morning." Ash said before collapsing on his bed. Exhausted over what went down with Twilight, and only wanting sleep.

"I sure hope this isn't a repeat of the Indigo League when Ash left his training at the last minute, and didn't have time for it since it was the day of the competition." The lightning themed one muttered to himself before going to bed himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 4

Applebuck Season

It was another beautiful day in Equestria, and the apple family were gazing at their crop with pride, but there was a slight problem this day. "Boy howdy, I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bunch of crop of apples I've ever laid eyes on." Apple Jack said to her brother as the two looked at all the apples.

"Eeyup. Too big for you to handle on your own." The red pony said back to his strong willed sister.

"Come on, big brother. You gotta rest up and make yourself better. I haven't met an apple orchard yet I can't handle." AJ replied back, and saw her brother sport a strange look, but knew why. "Oops. Sorry." She stated after removing her upper left hoof from her brother's tender ribs: that became that way when he and Tauros started a friendly fight with one another. "I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end." She proposed while looking at her targets.

"Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of." Big brother answered back while looking at the same problem.

"Are you sayin my mouth is making promises my legs can't keep." Apple Jack questioned back with an edge in her tone. Being underestimated is one thing that she really couldn't stand.

"Eeyup." He answered back - not bothered in the slightest to tell her the truth.

"Why of all the…this is your sister - Apple Jack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies." Element of Harmony - honesty would have added her latest title, but decided against it.

"But still only one pony. And one pony plus hundreds of apple trees just doesn't add up." The elder of the two pointed out, and not really showing off booksmarts; just logic over the whole thing.

"Don't use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue. I said I could handle this harvest, and I'm gonna prove it to you. I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this Applebuck Season. All by myself!" AJ said proudly before gulping a drop of spit out of fear.

'Hope she would still like it if I lent a hoof.' The wild bull Pokemon thought as he stood near the two, and had a feeling that she was a bit more stubborn than his kind was.

"Well, I better get kickin. These apples ain't gonna shake themselves out of the trees." Apple Jack said before a rumbling of sorts did that very thing to one of the apples. "Oh-No." She said since the farm girl knew what was behind this, and decided to try and stop it.

'What is all this racket.' One winged pony thought while hoofing it to a friend's house, but decided to do some aerial recon instead. A big bird saw this and decided to follow her.

"Stampede!" The two shouted out as loud as they could causing all the civilians to start closing their windows and doors, closing their blinds, and removing their welcome mats. There were only a few that weren't hysterical about this news.

"Hey, this makes my voice sound silly!" Element of Harmony - Laughter said while letting the shaking earth warble her words as she shook with the dirt.

"Pinkie Pie, are you crazy! Run!" Twilight shouted as she headed for her home. She saw that Ash was heading toward the dust cloud with Poke`ball in hand.

"Donphan, come on out!" Ash called out allowing his elephant creature to come forth, and stand beside him. Behind him there was more panicking, but one tried to quell them.

"Every-pony, calm down. There is no need to panic." The leader of the town said to her citizens who were doing the exact opposite. Another pony, somewhat calmer than the others, walked up to the leader of the town.

"But mayor, what ever shall we do." R questioned in a dramatic fashion. The gray haired horse looked over at the monster tamer.

'Having faith in Ash comes to mind.' The mayor thought as she saw the tow men standing there - ready to defend them.

"Look there!" Rainbow shouted out as he saw honesty coming up in the crowd of cows with a canine and a bull with her.

"Yee-haw!" The orange/yellow pony hollered as she galloped along side the chargers. Seeing this caused the mayor and the other Elements of Harmony to cheer for what their friend and the bull was out there.

"Move aside, Wynona." AJ said to her pet dog who parked in response and moved into position. "Round `em up, girl." She added to cause the large group to become a lot thinner than how they were.

"This is the best Rodeo Show I've ever seen!" The pink one said as she held a big bag of popcorn, and started to chomp on it while watching the show. The field pony just shook her head since she still didn't understand her friend's state of mind.

"Come on, little doggie. Turn." AJ said to the wild herd as she saw that they were closing in on Ponyville. "Wynona, put `em up." She issued, and with that her dog look around to find the point cow. "Gotcha!" She exclaimed after seeing what her dog was pointing out.

'Good thing she remembered her rope.' The bull thought as he saw the farm girl manage to grab the rope tied around her waist into her mouth, and start using it. She then launched said item to the head cow before getting to work.

"Atta girl!" She said to her pet that tried barking to get them to turn. Ketchum, who still stood on the bridge that led into town, decided to help her out in his own way.

"Donphan, use Rock Tomb." He called out since he knew some of his older friends have learned some of these new moves, and was proud of them for doing that.

"You got it!" The thick skinned one shouted before slamming his two front legs down which caused several rocks to come out of the ground, and block their way in. Once that was done the mayor, the other heroines, Ash, Pikachu (who was on Ash's shoulder), and Donphan watched as the cows were led to a clearing by the town. This caused to cheer praise for her good deed.

"Whooee. Now, what was that all about?" Apple Jack questioned after spitting out the rope, and walking over to the head cow for an explanation.

"Oh my! Begging your pardon, Apple Jack, but Moo-riella here saw one of those nasty snakes." She said and gave time for her herd to gasp in alarm which started the canine a bit before finishing with, "And it gave us all the willies, doncha know." The hero, the heroine, and their ally heard all this and could understand their panic.

"No problem at all, Ma`am, but next time try and steer clear of Ponyville." The out of towner said as he stood alongside the farm girl. The other creatures of Equestria knew of these out of towners through the grapvine, so the leader knew what to call the horned one.

"We sure will, Tauros. So long Wynona." The head cow said as they went their separate ways. The partner of Ash was surprised that once she grinded them to a halt AJ was able to pull her lasso off the leader before spitting it out.

"Now that that is over. We should probably push those boulders back." Ash said to his current partner before doing just that. As he, Donphan, Pikachu, and later - Tauros was busy doing that the ponies were talking about the feat they just saw.

"Yee-haw! Ride `em cow-pony!" The pink one shouted after her friend galloped back to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Apple Jack was just…just…" The mayor said, but could not find the proper words to describe the feat that she had seen just now. Thankfully a follower of hers knew what to say.

"Apple-tastic!" Laughter said while hanging upside down for a few seconds before face-slamming with zero damage to her face or pride.

"Exactly. We should do something to thank Apple Jack for single hoofingly saving the town." The leader of the little land explained while trying to think of a good solution. It was then the mare with the plan spoke.

"I know. A Party!" The Laughter factor shouted out, and with that the team spent a week getting everything ready with the help of Ash and his creatures along with the town's folk.

'Still can't believe of how easy it was to move those rocks back into the Earth.' Ash thought as he helped the beautician put a bow on a tree.

"We all ready?" The overseer of the whole thing questioned while walking over to the two by the tree.

"Just one last thing." Rarity said before using her magic on a banner. The item fit perfectly on the third floor balcony on the outside of the town hall. "Now, we're ready." She added once it was hung with care.

"Is Apple Jack all set." Twilight questioned since it would be kind of pointless to throw this if the pony of honor wasn't around. They all heard the sound of flapping wings and saw that it was Rainbow Dash and all of Ash's flyers coming back from some aerlial recon.

"Actually we haven't seen her all week." Loyalty informed the others after landing. Overhearing the topic Pinkie decided to put in her two cents with the water gator on her back.

"Not since the stampede." She commented, and it was then the human saw worry in the sixth member's eyes, so he decided to say something.

"No need to worry. Apple Jack will be here. After all, she's always been on time for everything else, so why start now?" Ketchum commented which made the others feel a bit better. Soon the celebration began the every-pony and Pokemon standing before the podeum.

"Welcome, every-pony and Pokemon. Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on matters great and small. A pony who's contributions to-." Twilight, armed with a big stack of note cards read, but was interrupted by the blue speedster.

"Did you see Apple Jack's slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week she's going to help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's going to be so awesome!" RD said to the group, and was feeling very excited about the event ahead.

"Exactly!" TS said after shoving the winged one out of the way. "And…" She started to go back to her speech, but was interrupted by the baker's aid.

"This week - I get to run Sugar Cube Corner for the first time." PP said as she stood in between Twilight and the podeum.

"What does that have to do with Apple Jack?" The studious one questioned since she wasn't seeing the connection between sweets and farm girl in the slightest.

"OH! Apple Jack, one of the best bakers - EVER! Is gonna help me. Apple Jack makes everything great! So, free samples for every-pony!" The pink themed one informed them causing all to cheer after hearing the news.

'I wonder if that includes us non-ponies.' The human thought as he could already hear his stomach rumble out of hunger.

"Okay, that's great." TS said after pushing PP out of the way. "Now, if I can just make a point without being inter-." She said with note cards floating beside her before another voice cut her off.

"Twilight." A timid voice said while crouching beside the podium.

"Rupted." She finished before dropping her cards again, and gave Fluttershy the floor.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Apple Jack is also helping me this week. With the official bunny census - where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills." Kindness said feeling happy about that, but quickly backed away since she could tell that TS wasn't in a good mood at the moment.

"Anyone else? Anyone?" The student of Celestia questioned while looking a the creatures from the human, to the human sitting Indian style in the front row, to Spike, and every-pony there. When no one spoke up she decided to get back on track. "No? Well then, as I was trying to say-." She said and stopped when seeing the mayor smiling at her. "AGH! Nevermind!" She called out before letting her cards fall every where as she stormed off in a huff.

'You tried.' Ash thought as he gave her a sympathetic pat on the back once the overseer came down to the others.

"And so, with no further ado. It is my privilege to give the Prized Pony of Ponyville award to our beloved guest of honor: a pony of the utmost trust worthyness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend - Apple Jack." The mayor said before motioning to the award and then the curtin which opened and showed no one again.

"Oh, way to go Apple Jack! That was awesome! I mean…" Spike started to speak before feeling the electrical one tapping him on the arm, and once his attention was reached Pikachu pointed over to the empty space.

'Two times now. This isn't a very good run for me.' The mayor thought as she coughed to get her mind off of the silent group before her.

"Awkward." Spike said as he rubbed his right arm with his left claw.

'Wonder if this is the doing of another dark horse?' The monster tamer thought with dread, but his fear was put to rest when a familiar voice was heard.

"I'm here! I'm here! Sorry I'm late. I was just-wahaaa. Did I get your tail?" The orange/blonde pony said before making in up the stairs to where the podium is. "Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for this hear…award thingy." She said before going over to the item and added, "It's so bright and shiny, and ha, ha, ha. I sure do look funny. Wooh, wooh." Seeing this caused one more to join her.

"Wooh! Wooh!" The both said as they made funny faces with their reflections. TS decided to say thanks to her friend, but still felt a little awkward about how the Honest one was acting.

"Okay. Well, thank you Apple Jack for saving us from that scary stampede that was diverted by Ash and Donphan." She said, but said the last part under a whisper because she knew that Ketchum helped because it was the right thing to do and he never wanted to be rewarded for it. "And always being there for every-pony." She added to her first comment.

"Yeah, I like helping the pony folks, and…and stuff." AJ said before nodding off for a moment right on stage. "Oh…yeah." She said after waking up after a few moments, and walked off while dragging away her reward.

"Was it just me or did Apple Jack seem a little…" Twilight began to speak, but was cut off three times. This time though - she was okay with it.

"Tired?" RD offered.

"Dizzy?" FS questioned.

"Messy?" R offered before seeing the questionable looks from her fellow ponies, Spike, Ash, and all of his creatures. "What? Did you see her mane?" She asked them since she didn't like the look they were giving her.

"She seemed fine to me. Whoo! Whoo!" PP said to them causing the blue gator to rush over and do the 'Whoo' as well. After the clean up was done Noctowl gave TS her note cards, and Ash retrieved all the apples that AS may have dropped on her way to and from the stand.

"Let's get going." The human said as they began walking off to Sweet Apple Acres. When they got there the four of them saw something very strange - even by Pokemon Trainer standards. It was Honesty doing her bucking thing, but something was off.

"WHOA!" Apple Jack as she tried to buck a tree, but only hit air.

"What on Earth is that pony doing?" Twilight questioned to the team as they watched her adjust her hoof stance, and kick over a barrel of apples.

"Whoops." AJ said in an exhausted tone when she saw what she had done.

"Hey, Apple Jack. Apple Jack. Apple Jack," The student of Celestia shouted, but after not getting even a nod in her direction the unicorn ported before the farm girl, and decided to try it one more time. "Apple Jack." She shouted to the one trying to saw some logs.

'Better pick up that mess.' Ash thought as he and Pikachu walked over to the fallen apples, and with the electric one's speed he managed to get them all in the container in no time at all.

"Howdy Twilight, Noctowl, Pikachu, Ash." AJ said to them after seeing who was all around her. The four watched as she headed over to another tree.

"What is all this?" Ash questioned with concern in his voice since he could now tell that she was dead tired.

"It's apple buck season." She answered back in a way that it should have been obvious to the rest of them. TS ported again while the others simple ran/flew to where she was.

"Apple-what season?" The flyer questioned since he had never heard of such a thing back home.

"It's what the Apple Family calls - harvesting time." AJ explained to them as she moved onto another tree. Again the four tailed her since they still wanted answers. "We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell them." She went deeper into an explanation, but something still wasn't sitting right with them.

"But why are you doing it all alone?" The purple pony questioned with concern.

"Cause Big Macintosh hurt himself." Honesty informed them which still didn't make since to Magic or Trainer.

"What about all those relatives I met when I first came to Ponyville. Can't they help?" TS stated and questioned to her friend. The farm girl knew what she meant, but decided to derail that thought train with some facts.

"They were only here for the Apple Family Reunion. They actually live all over Equestria, and are busy harvesting their own orchards." AJ said to TS causing AK to step up.

"What about Tauros? I know that he's been hanging here a lot lately." Ketchum said, and knew full well that the wild bull often rested here when he could…for some reason or another.

"He isn't part of the Apple Family, so him helping me with this wouldn't seem right." Apple Jack said back even though she knew this task would be a lot easier with that bull giving her a hoof. "So, I'm on my own." She explained while walking over to another tree, but stopped when Ash and Twilight with Pikachu on her shoulder and Noctowl on TS's back barred her path. "Which means I really should get back to work." She said to them, and added, "Ahem. Hint, hint. Get back to work." When they did not move.

"Fine." TS said as she and the two others got out of the way of the strong willed one.

"Ugh. Could you guys step aside?" AJ questioned while swaying side from side. The confused the visitors since they already were.

"We just did." The book-worm informed causing the cow-pony to turn to face them.

"Apple Jack, you don't look so good." Ash pointed out since he did not like seeing any of his friends in this condition.

"Don't none of you twelve worry none I'm just fine and dandy." Honesty said as she trotted along. The number that she used worried them even more causing her friends to try again. "Whoa." AJ called out after missing another tree.

"Do you…want some help?" Twilight questioned with some hesitation since she already knew the answer, but she prayed she was wrong.

"Help?! No way. No how." AJ said with a shake of the head. Ketchum still had to be the always helpful stranger that he was.

"No offense to your apple bucking skills, but there is no way that you can handle all these trees by yourself." Ash said to her in a calm tone, but the pooped pony took it the wrong way.

"Is that a challenge?" Honesty questioned after getting up near the human's face.

"No, not really. No." Ash said back even though he knew that in her condition she wouldn't be up for the challenge.

"Well, I'm gonna prove to you. That I can do it. Now, if you'll excuse me I've got apples to buck." The farm girl said as she walked away from them. The four were still worried for their friend's well being, but they did not know what to do.

"Maybe she'll be better tomorrow." The bird suggested to them as a means to keep their hopes up. With nothing else to do they left Sweet Apple Acres and headed for the library. The next day there were a couple of flyers waiting for the dependable one to arrive.

'What's the hold up?' The blue speedster thought as she tapped her hoof while waiting for the orange/blonde one to appear. Pidgeot was there to keep her company, and provide emotional support for this latest stunt. "There you are!" She shouted once the bucker had made it to the fence they said they'd meet at.

"I'm a might sorry, Rainbow. I was busy apple-bucking, and I guess I…I closed my eyes for a second, and when I woke up…I was late. Now, what's this new trick a yours." Apple Jack said to the flyer before her.

"See this contraption." RD questioned while motioning over to a teeter-totter with a tall platform beside it.

"Uh, yeah." AJ answered back, and did not know what it was for.

"Well, I'm gonna stand on one end. Then your gonna jump from that platform, launching me into the air faster than I could take off on my own. Once I'm in the air I'm going to do some amazing flips and spins that are sure to impress the Wonderbolts." Rainbow explained her plan which caused her companion to roll his eyes while thinking:

'There's a shocker.' The feathered one then heard the exhausted one to state something out of worry.

"Isn't that a might dangerous?" Honesty questioned and not liking this launching idea in the slightest.

"Not for a pony who can fly." Rainbow assured her after getting off of the post she was standing on, and headed over to her side of the teeter-totter.

"Well, alrighty then." The assistant said before climbing up the ladder that led to the top of the high podium. "Oh, my." She stated after looking down, and saw that everything was out of focus again.

"Ready? 1...2...3!" RD shouted, but instead of soaring into the heaves she watched as her friend face planted onto the ground. "Uh…maybe I wasn't clear. Your supposed to land on the other end." She clarified after getting off her part, and walked over to her fallen friend.

"Got it." Honesty answered back before attempting it a few more times.

'She's probably wishing that she took my advice of using Snorlax instead of Apple Jack.' The final stage bird thought as he watched the following three misses.

"Apple Jack, what the hay is going on? I mean I thought I was working with Ponyvilles best athlete." The blue furred daredevil exclaimed after all the other failed attempts.

"You are. I'm okay. Really. I have an idea. Watch this." Apple Jack said as she tried to clear her head from that last fall. The young one then put her plan into action which was pushing her side down without the extra force. "Ta-Da." She added after doing the deed.

'Not funny.' Rainbow thought as she shot her friend a cold stare complete with a angered facial expression.

"Oh, maybe not. Okay, one more try. I'm sure to get it this time." The helper said and hopped off her end of the see-saw not knowing that she accidentally made her friend dizzy with the sudden slam.

"Here I go." AJ said before galloping off her launch pad, and getting ready to belly flop onto the see-saw.

"No! Wait!" The blue one said after clearing her head just in time to see the land pony fall downward. "Apple Jack!" She cried out while being flung into the air.

"Your welcome." The cowgirl hollered back since she believed that she did good on her word. Back at the library Ash had given the librarian a book version of his Poke`dex since Oak swapped them when he was reuniting with his friends; Had a note that stated he had some more entries to put in, so he was okay with that.

'Sitting outside and reading. Feels good.' The trainer thought as he leaned against the railing of the balcony while reading a fictional book about multi-colored intergalactic police officers. The two were enjoying themselves until a big bang caused the two, and one companion to see that it was an Element of Harmony.

"Can we help you?" Twilight questioned at the daredevil before her.

"I think some-pony else needs your help." Loyalty said back while still feeling a bit dazed over her high speed flight.

"Apple Jack?" Magic asked back even though she already knew the answer.

"Yup." RD answered back before going to sleep. As TS headed out to meet her friend AK was greeted by his old friend who seemed worried about the Pegusus' problem.

"Sorry, Ash. I should have slowed down her crash." The bird stated while still being in the air. The human heard him, but gave the hoofed flier a quick once over before returning to his first bird.

"Don't worry Pidgeot. She's fine, but I want you to stick by her just to make sure. I'll be at Sweet Apple Acres if you need me." Ketchum said back before running after the young one. "Come on Pikachu. Time to roll." He added once he was halfway out of the building.

"Good luck to you." The electrical one said before scurrying away. The bird gently put the winged one in his talons, placed her on the balcony, and stood beside Rainbow. Back at the farm the group decided to talk some sense into her, and pray that she will listen this time.

"Apple Jack, can we talk?" Twilight asked her friend who picked up a fallen apple, but hit her head on a branch on her way up. "Apple Jack, can we talk?" She asked again in case she didn't hear her question the first time. Due to the ringing on the bucker's ears she misunderstood it.

"Can bees squawk? I don't think so." Apple Jack said back while rubbing the back of her neck in an uncertain fashion.

"No, she said - can we talk?" Ash offered to the farm-girl and used a calm tone.

"Twin stalks? Bean or celery?" AJ asked Ash, and the two realized that she still wasn't getting what they were asking.

"No, we need to talk to you." The electric rodent shouted and was getting irritated with this routine.

"You need to walk to the zoo? Well, who's stopping you?" The bucker questioned back to them. Seeing that three different voices wasn't getting through to her the group decided to say it together this time.

"We need to talk to you?" The three said as one, and this time the over achiever heard their plea loud and clear this time.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so? What do you want to talk about?" Apple Jack asked after getting the message.

"Rainbow Dash dropped in to see me today." Twilight informed her fellow heroine of what happened a few moments ago.

"That's quit neighborly of her." AJ said back with a smile because she didn't see the harm in such a thing.

"Maybe, but she crashed onto Twilight's balcony after you catapulted her into the air." Ash said to the helper who suddenly remembered that lapse of judgment.

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't feeling quite myself this morning." The soloist admitted with her head hung low as if she was about to let sleep over take her.

"Because you're working too hard, and you need help." Twilight informed after walking up shoulder to shoulder with her over worked friend.

"What? Kelp? I don't need kelp. I don't even like sea food." The orange/blonde one said as she had another lapse of listening..

"Help! You need help." The purple one shouted back at the farm-girl since she, like Pikachu, was getting tired of this poor listening bit.

"Nothing doing, Twilight. I'm going to prove to you, to every-pony, that I can do this on my own." Apple Jack informed before walking into the same low branch as before. "Ow! Now if ya`ll excuse me. I gotta go help Pinkie Pie." She informed after the run-in, and then walked off.

'I hope she'll gain some focus for this next friend run.' Ash thought as he and the others were heading out. Over at Sugar Cube Corner the owners of the building were having second thought about this plan.

"Now, Pinkie, are you sure your up to making the cakes and running the store this afternoon." A blue pony with a pink mane and tail questioned while stacking a couple of boxes on top of one another.

"Yes urre bob, Mrs. Cake. Plus I have Ponyville's prized pony to help me. Why she's the best baker ever! Right, Apple Jack?" The Laughter factor said to the female owner of the building before turning her attention to her friend who was still trying to get this ringing to stop.

"No? You're not the best baker ever?" A yellow pony with a brown-ish mane questioned after seeing the farm girl shake her head 'no'. At this time she heard the comment and decided to answer him honestly.

"What? No. I mean: don't you fret. I can make anything from Fritters to Pies in a blink of an eye." AJ assured them which they took her word not noticing that physically she wasn't in the best of shape right now.

"All right. See you later, girls." The wife side of the bakery said as the two hurried out the door. Once they were gone the over achiever still tried to get the ringing to stop, but something else stopped her.

"Stop with the shakin` its time to get bakin`." Pinkie said and the two went into the kitchen where the temp baker got the right book, went to the right page, and got ready to relay the ingredients. "Okay I'll get the sugar and the eggs. Can you get the chocolate chips?" PP questioned to the one that was catching some Z's.

"Huh? What was that?" Apple Jack questioned and listened to the repeat, but with her ears still on the fritz she was only able to get the last word. "Chips? Got it." She said before walking over to the open cabinet. "Tater Chips - a little salty and dry. Okay then." She stated before putting them in the mixing bowl, and added, "What next?" The words were still slurred to her as Pinkie continued with:

"Baking Soda." She said, but just as before only the last word was heard.

"Soda? Perfect! That'll get the Tater Chips nice and wet." AJ said as she walked over to the fridge to pick up a bottle of soda pop, and poured it into the mixing bowl. "Now what?" She asked after putting the empty bottle in the trash.

"A cup of flour." The happy one stated, and even though her assistant heard three of the words correctly it was the four that she messed up on.

"A cup a sour? Well, lemons sure are sour. One cup of sour coming up." AJ said as she juiced a lemon, put it in a measuring cup, and then poured it in. "Anything else, Pinkie?" The aide questioned since she wasn't liking how this was turning out.

"One last thing. Wheat Germ." The temp baker stated happily.

"Wheat worm? Oh! That must be fancy talk for earth worm." The aide guessed before going outside, dug a hole, and came back with a mouth full of worms which she put with the rest of the stuff.

"Now, that's gonna be delicious!" Pinkie said with great enthusiasm not knowing what it really looked like.

"If you say so." The over worked one said and helped do the baking part. As they waited PP called up Ash's place to get Totodile since she knew that his dancing was sure to round up a lot of customers.

"Free muffin sample spectacular!" Pinkie said once they had all the muffins out for all to enjoy. All seemed really excited over what they saw before them, and each took one.

"Yeah, muffin specials. Get `em while they're hot." AJ said and as every-pony was enjoying them she slipped back to her solo job. After a few moments one of the neighborhood ponies went to get the help of the monster tamer and the student of Celestia.

"We came as soon as we heard." TS said with Spike to her right along with Ash, Garchomp, and Charizard behind her.

"Thank you all. We need all the help we can get." A nurse said after showing all the ponies that were hunched over with seriously green faces.

"What happened here?" Ash questioned since he knew that everyone in town were usually as healthy as can be, so seeing this is seriously unexpected.

"It was a mishap with some of the baked goods." The white pony answered him. Spike saw one of the items in question, and after that the other two dragons did as well.

"No. Not baked goods. Baked bads." PP said before vomiting into her bucket.

"Apple Jack." Twilight said in annoyance since this was the third assignment she said she was going to do, and again it ended badly. Unknown to the duo the dragons three ate a muffin each, and enjoyed them causing one to have an idea.

"Want one?" Garchomp questioned as he held said unhealthy item before his partner.

"Thank you, Garchomp, but I don't think even my stomach can hold them. I hope you understand." Ash said back after seeing Totodile spew a green Water Gun into his puke pan.

"I understand." The large winged one stated, and it was then they saw the purple pony walk off, so the human followed after her.

"Huh? What?" AJ said after bucking another tree and took a quick nap, but was woken up by an apple to the head. She then put them all in a nearby wagon, and poured them in a big basket while hanging upside down.

"Apple Jack, we need to talk." TS said which caused the hard worker to wake up from another sleep attempt.

"Oh, it's you two. I know what you are gonna say, and the answer is still no." Honesty stated even though she was about to fall asleep again.

"Not to upset your apple cart, but you need help." The sixth of the ponies said since she could tell that her body is about to quit on her.

"Hardy har, and no I don't." The strong willed one stated while struggling to get her cart back to how it was before.

"Here, let me help you." Ketchum said and was about to put his hands on the posts that connected pony to cart, but was stopped by the puller.

"Help? No thanks." AJ said back before trying to force herself back to starting position. After about five tries she had done it, and was trying another tree. "I'll prove that this apple can handle these apples." She informed before adding while bucking, "Come on, apples. Fall off!" The two looked at one another, and it was Ash that gestured for Magic to give her the truth.

"AJ? I think your beating a dead…tree." The student said causing the bucker to look up and saw that she was right.

"I knew that." She answered back, and moved onto a living tree. The two gave pursuit with Ash pulling a Poke`ball from his collection since he had a feeling he knew the right one for this job.

"Actually Apple Jack, I had something else to talk to you about. Ash, and I just came from Ponyville Urgent Care, and…" The studious one started to speak off, but was cut off by the sleep deprived one.

"Ya know, I'm a little busy to be lectured right now, Twilight." AJ stated as she was showing off that her lack of sleep was affecting her personality.

"But if you let us help.?" TS questioned but didn't like the answer one bit.

"Ugh! No! No! No! How many times do I gotta say it - I don't need no help by no-pony." AJ said while walking away from them.

"Guess we'll do this my way, then." Ash said as he threw his Poke`ball into the air. "Butterfree, use Sleep Powder on Apple Jack." Ash commanded once the beast was released. Sadly he had a dejavu moment when the target took a deep breath in, and then blew the Sleep Powder back at the attacker. "Butterfree - return." Ash shouted and recalled his sleeping friend.

"Ugh! The pony is as stubborn as a mule." Twilight stated, and it so happened that said creature was just passing through. "No offense." She added after the creature brayed at her.

"Non taken." He stated before walking along. Pretty soon it was time for Apple Jack's next assignement, and her lack of sleep was really starting to show.

"Oh, Apple Jack, thank you so much for offering your herding skills for the annual rabbit round-up." Fluttershy stated as she and her fellow heroine were walking into bunny territory.

"Why are we doing this?" The helper questioned in an annoyed tone.

"Well, lots of new baby bunnies have been born, so it's my job to get a count of all the new families." The animal whisperer stated back since she was happy to have a reliable friend helping her.

"Fine, can we just get on with it." AJ said back since the only thing on her mind were her apples.

"Certainly, but remember these are bunnies we are counting; not cows. They're a timid bunch and need to be treated gently." FS informed in her polite tone even though the irritable one was not in the right mind to listen.

"I don't need no direction for corralling critters." Honesty answered back since she wanted this over with as soon as possible. "Right, Winona?" She questioned to her canine friend who barked twice which caught the bunnies attention.

"Okay, little bunnies, I need you all to gather here in the middle." The animal care taker stated to them. They were about to do so until an angered voice spoke out.

"That's right. Let's go bunnies. In the center. Hop to it." AJ said to them with a hoof stomp. With that and the tone she was using the rabbits did the only thing that came naturally - flee. "Swell, just swell." She said before giving chase.

'We must run faster.' Some of them thought before running away from the mad pony as fast as they could.

"Put `em up, Winona." AJ said to her dog which she did without question.

"Apple Jack, Winona - stop. Your scaring them." Fluttershy explained while watching with fear as her fuzzy friends were running away in a terrified panic.

"We know what we're doing? Get along little bunnies." The farm girl said as she continued to do her thing.

"You heard her." The canine barked, and about this time they had corralled them in a fenced clearing. To keep the frightened things at bay the loyal canine bared her fangs at them.

"Oh no." The animal care taker said as she watched all of them bolt away from AJ and Winona and headed into town. Just like before RD, now fully awake, did her recon thing again after hearing something coming into town.

"Stampede!" Loyalty shouted causing all of them to do as they did before. There were a few that didn't get away in time and fainted, but the bunnies simply ran around them. A few moments later TS was skipping down the road while Ash was doing something he had seen on TV - building leaping until they both saw three down ponies.

"The horror! The horror!" A pony with a rose marking called out.

"It was awful." Another horse with three flowers as her marking shouted.

"A disaster. A horrible, horrible disaster." A third one said aloud causing both hero/heroine to look this way and that, but neither of them saw any damage done.

"I don't get it." TS whispered, but even that low the shouters heard her statement.

"Our gardens destroyed." One informed before going to her side yard garden.

"Every last flower devoured." The rose pony said as she looked at the flowers at the front of her store which now only showed the stem.

"By, by THEM!" A pink and green pony said while pointing to the culprits with her upper left hoof.

"Oh my! Oh, please stop little bunnies. Oh no. Please, let's go home. Oh, oh my goodness." Fluttershy said as she tried to wrangle all the bunnies, who were still eating, up, but was having zero luck.

"Alright. Enough is enough." Twilight demanded before rushing off to Sweet Apple Acres. Ash saw this, but decided to address the rabble-rousing rabbits first.

"Pikachu, time for some negotiating. I'll help Twilight." Ash called to the creature on his shoulder. The small creature saluted, and went to work while the human building hopped until he was out of roofs, and then ran on foot.

"Must keep buckin`. Just a few more. Must finish harvestin`." Apple Jack said as she bucked a tree as she felt her body ready to quit on her, but she forced herself to continue.

"Your apple bucking hasn't just caused you problems. It's over propelled Pegasus. Practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushles of brand new baby bunnies." TS said as she got up to AJ, and that was when the human got to the point.

"Neither of us care what you say - you need help." He said, but both were alarmed that the apples in the tree fell into her side baskets perfectly.

"Ha! No, I don't. Look, I did it. I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without your guys' help. How'd you like them apples." The farm girl said since she believed that she could finally enjoy some shut-eye until a voice called out to her.

"Um, how do you like them apples?" Big Macintosh, who watched the whole thing (farm side wise), said after standing shoulder to shoulder with her. She saw where he was looking at the several trees that she did not touch in the slightest.

'It's a start.' Ash thought as he watched Honesty collapse after realizing that she had barely made a dent. The two stayed by her side until the farm-girl came to.

"Apple Jack?" TS said with worry as the orange/blonde pony slowly opened her eyes. "Oh, good, your okay. Now, Apple Jack, I completely respect the Apple Family ways. You're always there to help any pony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside, and allow your friends to help you." TS stated, and after a look at the other trees AJ knew that she had no other option.

"Okay, Twilight." She admitted, but after saying no for so long the purple one didn't hear her right away.

"I am not taking no for an answer." The studious one stated, and it was then the Trainer decided to clarify something.

"She said 'yes'." He informed causing the sixth one to gasp in surprise before looking down at the hard worker.

"Yes, Twilight, yes please. I could really use your help." Apple Jack admitted with her front hooves in a praying stance. After that was established TS gathered the other elements while Ash released his team from their mobile homes.

"Butterfree, Sleep Powder on AJ one more time." Ash called out again.

"I hope you know what you're doing." The insect said before letting out the blue dust. Only this time she accepted it, and went fast to sleep. Ketchum picked her up - intended to carry her to the barn, but was stopped.

"I'll take care of the delivery Ash, you have all those apples to get." The wild bull Poke`mon explained. Seeing no other choice the human put the pony on his back, and let him be on his way. Soon the girls arrived and both sets went to work while Twilight recited her letter for her brother to write.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

My friend Apple Jack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help any pony. The only trouble is - when she needs help she finds it hard to accept it. So, while friendship is about giving ourselves to friends. It's also about accepting what our friends have to offer.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle,"

As the note was being written the apples were sent down with Iron Tail, Leaf Blade, Vine Whipe, Razor Leaf, Leaf Storm, Mach Punch, and other moves; the the added aide of classic bucking. When the note was done and sent AJ and Tauros walked out with beverages for all. "How about ya`ll take a little break. I've got some fine Apple Juice waitin` for ya." Honesty called out causing all of them to stop and come over.

'That sounds good to me.' Ash thought as he licked his dry lips while walking over to the others.

"Guys, I can't think you enough for this help. I was actin a bit stubborn." Apple Jack confessed to them.

"A bit." Twilight stated in a joking manner.

"Okay. A might stubborn, and I'm awful sorry. Now, I know the town gave me the prized pony award, but the real reward is having you lot as my friends." She admitted which they all appreciated and started to drink to her word.

"That apple bucking sure made me hungry." Loyalty admitted to the others.

"And I've got the perfect treat." Spike informed and showed the dish he carried from town to the farm.

"Ew! Spike I threw those away? Where did you get them?" PP questioned the dragon knowing full well that as soon as the bug passed she did as she said, and didn't leave so much as a crumb behind.

"From the trash." He admitted to them causing the group to groan in disgust and walk away. "Just a little nipple. Come on." He said to the group while bringing up the rear, but heard a 'no' all around so he ate them while walking. Ash got home and forgot all about the tickets, and claimed to get to them the next day.


	6. Chapter 6

Ash, and other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 5

Griffon the brush-off

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville and everyone was doing their thing. Since there was no Poke`mon Center around Ash decided that the only time his creatures would go into battle is when evil was about, so he and Pikachu were taking a nap in the park; at least that was their plan until a voice began to speak. "Talk about an action overload! She starts going super-sonic going higher and higher, and then Rainbow Dash swooped down - swoosh! And right before she hit ground she swooped up - zoom!" Pinkie said as she explained what their speed factor has been up to.

"Uh-huh." Twilight, who was reading a book on a bench in front of the tree Ash was sleeping under, said in a 'I don't really care' tone.

"And then she looped around and around, like whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo." PP said as she continued her story before falling to her back.

"Uh-huh." The purple pony answered back as she continued to focus on her book. At that moment the young woman in question flew over head causing the fan to stand up on her hooves, and follow on the ground. This caused the two to sigh in relief before going back to what they were doing.

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie shouted out causing the creature in question to have a shocked eyed expression before looking down.

"Grr. Pinkie Pie? Not again." Rainbow said before picking up the pace. The grounded one saw this and picked up speed.

"Rainbow Dash!" She called out again while alternating views between her target and the ground to make sure she didn't bump into anything.

"Not now, Pinkie Pie!" RD shouted back down before picking up the pace even more.

"But…but Rainbow Dash." PP said since she had something really important to say.

"I'm in the middle of something." The speed factor explained since all she wanted was to loose her tagalong as soon as possible.

"But…" The informant explained but was cut off.

"I said not now! Ugh!" The blue speedster said back before slamming into a wall of solid rock, and slid downward.

"I was going to say to watch out for that mountain." Laughter informed once Loyalty reached ground. Once that was said the flier groaned in aggravation. Once that incident was done the speed warrior tried to loose her in town while going near her top speed.

'Peace at last.' RD thought as she rested on a cloud before hearing some annoying humming coming from down below, so she took some cloud in her hooves and shoved the cotton-looking material into her ears.

"Hi, I'm looking for Rainbow Dash. Have you seen her?" Pinkie questioned a group of ponies over by a cart. Once the pony in question heard this she wordlessly freaked out.

'Gotta hide!' The blue one thought before doing an ostrich thing in the cloud she was standing on.

"Hello, have you seen Rainbow Dash. No, thanks anyways." PP questioned and stated after asking another pony. It was then the party animal saw Ash was about to go into his home to see to his Pokemon and decided to ask him. "Ash, have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?" She asked politely.

"Isn't that her up there?" Ash questioned while pointing up to the cloud right above them with a rainbow colored tail sticking out of it. The young one said her thanks, and let Ash do what he had been doing.

"Rainbow Dash." Pinkie said in a sing-song style causing the one in question to freak. As a means to an end she bolted as fast as she could while her pursuer simply hopped behind her.

'She is still one of the strangest creatures I've ever met.' Ash thought as he watched her hop away from his door window. The speedster rested behind the Sweet Apple Acres barn.

'This should be far enough. Who knows maybe she had given up.' RD thought while taking a few deep breaths. "That was close." She said aloud once her breathing leveled.

"Hi!" PP said as soon as RD turned around. The winged one leapt into the air with a yelp of alarm before flying off again. 'Here I come.' She thought while happily hopping along.

'The library - perfect! Pinkie will never look for me there." Rainbow thought before taking refuge in a large gathering of leaves to catch her breath again.

"Hi again." The piece that RD was sitting on said to her causing the speed factor to realize - that the pink one beat her to this location as well.

'Not again.' She thought before bolting and went passed a big hill which the other Element of Harmony followed. In reality as soon as she went passed the hill RD hid behind another cloud. 'Now's my chance.' She thought while tip-hoofing in the air before gliding down to the edge of a lake.

"I need a favor Rainbow Dash." Pinkie, who once again beat her to the location, stated after spitting out the mouth piece to a snorkel. Loyalty was about to flee again, but she quickly saw the pattern behind all of this.

"Oh, forget it." Rainbow said before belly flopping back on the sandy terrain in defeat.

"I TOTALLY promise it'll be TOTALLY fun!" Pinkie exclaimed with great enthusiasm.

"Okay." Rainbow answered back with a sigh of defeat. With that Laughter explained her plan and Loyalty followed it. The two ended up at city hall with an average looking cloud.

"Over to the right." Pinkie directed and the weather controller followed. "No, no. A little to the left." She corrected before adding, "Wait back to the right." The pony thought about it before continuing with, "Now a little left-ish while staying right. Stop. Hmm, maybe a few inches to the South. Now a couple centimeters North. Okay. One more smidg-e-meter to the…" Her comment was cut short by the puller.

"PINKIE PIE!" RD shouted out of anger since this routine was getting old.

"Uh, perfect. Now, wait for my signal." PP stated before going to one of the base windows, and saw her target. Spike, who was collecting scrolls, and humming a tune, did not know of the danger that lied before him.

'That must be the signal.' The speed factor thought before bucking the cloud causing a lightning to burst from it. This in turn startled the small dragon into releasing the scrolls.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups." Pinkie said as their target started to do just that. The Roy G BIV themed one floated down with the cloud to see for herself.

"Good one, Pinkie -hiccup- Pie. Your always pullin a fast one -hiccup- on me." Spike said to the cause of his problem with a smile since he knew it was all in good fun.

"Oh no. Your not hurt, are you?" The prankster questioned after hearing a gasp of alarm from the purple/green creature.

"Na-hiccup-ah. Don't be -hiccup-silly. Dragons are -hiccup- fireproof." Spike explained while forgetting that the scroll had been sent to the princess as it always did when he breathed on it.

'What is this? It's too early in the day for Twilight Sparkle to have learned a friendship lesson.' The princess thought as a scroll materialized before her and fell to the floor.

"Oh, okay. Good." Pinkie said since she hated it when a prank went too far and actually hurt someone either on the inside, outside, or both.

"Wish the same thing -hiccup- were true with scrolls." Spike stated after picking up and sending seven away. Back at the castle the princess was reading something rather interesting.

'This is Ash's health report.' Celestia thought as she continued to read before the seven piled on top of her. Back in the town every time the dragon picked up a fallen scroll it was sent away, so he decided to wait the hiccups out before doing anything with them.

"Have you seen anything more hilarious?" PP questioned once she could catch her breath after her latest laughing fit. This gave the other one an idea: one that she didn't mind one bit.

"I can think of one thing." Loyalty stated before kicking the cloud again causing a scream out of her fellow Element of Harmony. "I didn't take you for a prankster, Pinkie Pie?" RD questioned while gliding down to the laughing/hiccupping creature.

"Are you -hiccup- kidding? I love to pull pranks. It's all -hiccup- in good fun, and Pinkie Pie lo-hiccup-ove to have -hiccup- fun. -Hiccup-." The pink one stated with a smile on her face.

"You know, Pinkie Pie. Your not as annoying as I thought." The winged one said and then decided to go one step further, "You wanna hang out?" She offered causing the other to smile out of joy. PP tried to express her joy, but her hiccups got in the way, so the asker decided to help with that. "I simple nod will do." She said after putting her hoof in her happy friend's mouth.

"Mm-hmm." She said with a closed mouth. Once the hiccups stopped the two headed for the joke shop to arm themselves before setting off. The duo's first target was Generosity.

"Is she even home?" RD questioned after the pink one rang the doorbell after dropping off their package.

"I don't know, but look." Laughter answered back before motioning to the top half of the door opening up and their friend's head popping out. R looked around to the left and right, but saw no one, but when she glanced down the fashion expert spotted a bouquet of flowers. Intrigued she went down to sniff, but she came back up the young pony began to sneeze.

'Why can't I stop sneezing?' She thought before hearing laughter beyond the bushes and saw her fellow Elements of Harmony with a can of Sneezing Powder in hoof. Rainbow Dash dropped the container and decided to move onto the next target, and when she did some powder got onto Pinkie.

"AHCHOOO!" PP shouted out loudly while zipping away. The generous one did not take any offense to this little prank since it was a good, harmless joke. In the big tree in town Twilight was testing out a Science experiment, and was recording the steps.

'Okay, green content into blue content.' She thought after jotting some stuff down. The heroine of magic was about to write down that green and blue made a purple of sorts, but when she turned to the piece of paper she just wrote on - there was nothing there. "Huh?" She questioned aloud and then swayed her head to and fro between paper and experiment until the purple stuff made a small explosion. 'Is that laughter, I hear?' Twilight thought and went to her window and saw PP and RD laughing their heads off.

'At least she's not mad.' The two thought while laughing as they saw their friend sport an understanding smile for their prank. The next target was Honesty, and the two knew exactly how to deal with her.

"Come on, Tauros. Let's get to buckin`." Apple Jack said as went to his barn stall. The bull Poke`mon, who had been staying there for an over night visit, got up onto all four hooves. After strapping a wagon to there bodies the two set off, but stopped and starred at the apples.

"Who did this?" Tauros thought with an angry snort coming out his nostrils.

"Land sakes!" AJ shouted after seeing the multi-colored apples and knew that it wasn't time for those apples yet, so what was going on? The two hear laughter and saw pink and blue wearing artist beret and pallets.

'They think it's funny messing with food.' Tauros thought out of anger. The two unhooked themselves from their carts, gathered ammo, and started chucking them at the two jokesters.

"Hold on their partner." AJ called out when she saw the out of Towner was about to unleash a Fissure attack at them, but stopped when she spoke. The farm girl motioned for him to come to her at a barrel filled with water where an apple fell in.

'Oh, water based paint.' The hard headed one thought as the two watched the paint flow off of the item. The two laughed at it since it was a good gag, and the food was okay - they just needed watering.

'Seeing Tauros gives me an idea.' Rainbow Dash thought, but knew that most of Ash's friends weren't big on pranks. As if reading her mind Pinkie rushed out of sight, and came back with Totodile on her back. 'That will work.' Loyalty thought and decided to put her next plan into action.

'There you go.' Fluttershy thought as she tossed some bread crumbs into a stream to feed a few fish. Turned to see three others along with a strange looking turtle. From across the curved river were three lookers.

"Is someone over there? Who's Toto gonna squirt? Who's Toto gonna squirt?" Pinkie questioned the preceptor while Totodile a plunger connected to a hollow tube that was connected to the strange turtle since the gator planned to use a Water Gun attack.

"Fluttershy." The speed factor answered back as she looked through the borrowed telescope at their target. After hearing that the water colored creature swallowed his attack while his pink toned friend gasped in alarm.

"We can't prank Fluttershy. I mean she's so sensitive that it'll hurt her feelings. Even to the most harmless prank." The Poke`mon explained to Loyalty, and hoped that she would believe him.

"Yeah, your right. Phfft. We need a victim that's made of tougher stuff." Rainbow stated back after taking a break from the scope, but quickly went back to it. "So, who's it gonna be?" RD questioned while looking around away from the device not knowing what the two Laughter factors were doing.

"Oh, I've got someone in mind. The toughest around." Pinkie said as she said through her giggling fit. Her fellow prankster heard the giggling, but did not think much of it - just of the chance to prank someone else.

"Oh, awesome. Who? Who? Do I know them? Is it Ash himself?" Rainbow questioned while looking around again, and saw no one in the area. The two others continued to laugh, and since the third haven't figured it out the two decided to show why they were happy.

"No, but your very close." Pinkie said as she and Totodile walked her over to the body of water before them.

"Good one, Pinkie Pie." The winged one said after looking at her reflection and offered her hoof for a low hoof, but all of her attempts were misses. The two shared a good laugh, and as they did FS was perplexed by the strange turtle.

'I better handle clean up.' Totodile thought before swimming over to Fluttershy and explained things to her. He then got help to give Twilight her telescope back, and by morning Laughter was ready to start this all over again.

"Rise and shine, Rainbow Dash. It's a brand new day, and we've got a lot of pranking to-oooh." Pinkie said after trotting to her fellow Element's home while wearing novelty items on her head, but stopped speaking when a new head emerged from the cloud home.

"Morning Pink." Rainbow said from a higher part of the cloud home before swooping down to the ground. "Gilda, this is my gal pal - Pinkie Pie." She stated causing the new creature to come down to join them.

"Hey, what's up?" The creature questioned: not really caring much for this one in pink at all.

"Pinkie, this is my Griffon friend - Gilda." RD explained while motioning to the fully feathered one before them.

"What's a Griffon?" PP questioned since she had never heard of such a creature before.

"She's half eagle, half lion." The ROY G BIV girl explained while the lady in question decided to add something else.

"And all awesome." The girl said as she flew in closer to the two and wrapped her right upper arm around her old friend's neck.

"Gilda's my best friend since Junior Speedster Flight Camp." RD explained after special hoof shake her friend. "Hey, remember the chant?" Loyalty questioned since she wanted her new friend to at least know that much of her school.

"Sha! They made us recite it every morning. I'll never get that lame thing out of my head." Gilda said back since she thought that much of it was a bore.

"So…" Rainbow stated to her hold friend, as if goading her into saying it with her.

"Only for you, Dash." The fuzor said back, and with that the two began to recite the chant.

"Junior Speedsters are our lives! Soaring skies, and daring dives! Junior Speedsters is our quest! To someday be the very best!" The two of them said to her, and even though PP heard the emotionless tone from Gilda throughout the whole thing Laughter didn't pay it any mind.

"That was awesome, and it gave me a great idea for a prank." Pinkie said before face diving into her stuff, and finished with, "Gilda, you game?" Rainbow would like that her old best friend, and one of her knew best friends working on pranks with her, but the other winged one had other ideas.

"Well, I groove on a good prank as much as the next Griffon, but Dash you promised we could get a flying lesson in this morning." Gilda stated before taking to the sky.

"Yeah, uh, well…Pinkie Pie, you don't mind; do you? Gilda just got here. We'll catch up with you later." The Pegasus said back feeling bad she had to ditch her knew friend, but saw the last part with her best reassuring smile.

"Oh…um…sure, no problem. Have fun you guys. I'll just catch up with you…later." Pinkie said as she watched the two fly away, and felt pretty low. Unknown to any of them was that someone was watching them.

'Poor girl.' Heracross, who was eating early this morning thought, but decided to focus on this new tree sap rather than tending to PP's feelings. The two kept flying until the Afternoon hours, but the two decided to take a break on a cloud.

"Whoa! That was sweet! Just like old times." Gilda said to her fellow speed demon.

"Yeah, only faster." RD said as she hoof-bumped her old friend, and added, "So, now what?" It was at that moment a familiar pink head popped through the cloud they were on.

"Hey there!" Pinkie said before her head disappeared. This confused them, but the third person continued to talk. "It's later, and I caught up." She said after popping in and out two more times. The two looked through the hole she was making and saw that PP was on a rather large trampoline.

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random!" Rainbow said with a smile on her face since she was always happy to meet up with a fellow Element. This did not go over very well with her old friend one little bit.

"Hey, Dash, think you got enough gas to beat me to that cloud?" Gilda questioned while pointing to said item several miles away.

"A race? You are so on!" RD said back and got ready for take off.

"1,2,3 - GO!" The Griffon shouted out and the two flew off. Laughter saw this, and felt bad again.

"Hey!" PP shouted out at them, but they were too busy with their race to notice.

"I win!" RD shouted out happily.

"As if! I won, dude!" The old friend said back while pointing at herself with one of her talons.

"No, way!" The blue horse shouted back in disbelief.

"Yes, way!" She said back; feeling good that they were a good ways away from that bothersome pony. The two began to argue, but stopped when a third voice was heard.

"Wow, guys, that was really cool! But I think Rainbow Dash beat you by a teeny weenie little hair, or a teeny weenie little feather." Pinkie said to the two of them while being held up by several balloons.

"Ha! Good thing Pinkie's here to keep you honest, G." RD stated with a smile not knowing that this was getting under the Griffon's skin.

"Okay, Dash, last one to that cloud up there is a gnarly Dragon egg. GO!" Gilda said as she pointed up to a higher cloud. The race started and a cloud of dust appeared, but when it cleared with brown winged one was still there.

'That's weird. Why didn't she fly off too?' PP thought, but received her answer with a rude tone by the creature before her.

"I think the high altitude is making you dizzy." Gilda proclaimed before popping about six balloons, and let her slowly fall to Earth.

"Wait. Guys." The balloon holder called out for assistance, but received none. Up on the new cloud RD landed calmly followed by her old friend.

"Oh, wow. You guys almost got away from me that time." Pinkie said to the two while manning a strange peddle based helicopter. As Loyalty was happy to see Laughter was still with them the fuzor was not.

"So, Dash, got any new moves in your tricks-inary, or are you 100% old school?" The Griffon questioned since she knew this taunt would distract the pony long enough to rid the air of the pink one.

"New moves? Sit back, G. This is gonna take a while." the flyer answered back, and went to work. As she showed off her latest moves the other put her latest plan into action.

"Hey, Pinkie, come here." Gilda said and fingered her to come closer.

"Yeah?" PP questioned back since she was interested in knowing what her knew friend wanted to talk about.

"Don't you know how to take 'get lost' for an answer? Dash doesn't need to hang out with a dweeb like you now that I'm around. Your dorking up the skies, Stinkie Pie, so make like a bee and buzz-off." She explained while grabbing the blades, held them for a bit, and then released which caused the operator to go spiraling back to the Earth.

"Try matching that?" Rainbow Dash questioned as she was done with her routine, and headed back to the cloud. "Hey, where's Pinkie Pie, and her crazy contraption?" Loyalty questioned after looking around and not seeing it anywhere; not knowing what her old friend had done.

"Ah, she left. Something about being as busy as a bee." Gilda answered back while looking down at the ground to see if she could see her accomplishment of where they are now. Down on the ground Ash was taking a stroll - enjoying that this world was pretty calm in comparison to his world which always had a situation that he had to fix.

"Oh look a helicopter." Ash said as he looked at the sky before quickly adding, "A crashing helicopter!" Out of instinct he threw one of his spheres into the air to summon Snorlax.

"Hey, Ash, what's up?" The heavy set man questioned while looking down upon his partner.

"Snorlax, I need you to lie down right now." Ketchum offered to the Sleeping Poke`mon. Always having faith in his partner the big guy did as commanded, and just stayed there. "Now, who's ever in that thing - jump." He called out to the vehicle.

'Okay.' PP thought before leaping out of it and bounced a few times on the Poke`mon before sliding to the side, and landing on the ground. "That was so super-duper fun!" The excitable one shouted out happily.

"Pinkie, are you alright? What happened to you?" Ash said, and it was that concerned tone that caused her to focus on what had happened above them. "I see, let's get to Twilight. I'm sure she'll have some idea of what to do." He said while picking up the strange device.

"Sounds good. Let's go." She said back and the two set off. After making a slight detour to Sugar Cube Corner to work out the dents later the two made it to the library.

"So, Pinkie Pie, are you sure this fiend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?" TS questioned while looking at one of her books.

"Um, yeah. She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away. She popped my balloons, and she tells me to buzz-off. I've never met a Griffon this mean…well, I've never met a Griffon at all, but I bet if I had - she wouldn't be as mean and grumpy as Gilda." Laughter explained to Magic while putting her hoof down at the end.

"You know what I think, Pinkie Pie." Twilight stated causing her friend to come closer out of curiosity causing her to continue with, "Well, I think…your jealous." Even though she immediately regretted saying it since she knew how this emotional pony would react.

"Jealous?!" She shouted back in alarm.

"Green with envy? Well, in your case - pink with envy." Spike commented while over hearing their discussion.

"Well, yes, jealous. Listen Pinkie, I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend doesn't make Gilda a grump. I mean perhaps it's you Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude." The student stated as she was trying to let her friend down as easy as she could.

"Improve my attitude?! But I…gah, but it's Gilda that…are you seri…AUG!" Pinkie shouted back since she still couldn't believe the founder of the six was taking the side of the fuzor over an Element of Harmony.

"I'll keep an eye on her." Ash, who had been sitting at the stairs - listening to the story a second time, and decided to see this Gilda with his own two eyes. With that Ash followed Laughter who still thinking of her talk with Twilight.

"Maybe Twilight is right? Maybe Gilda isn't a great big, grumpy meanie-mean pants. Maybe I'm just a jealous, judgmental jealousy jealous-pants." Pinkie said enroot to one of her favorite restaurants for a pick-me up.

"I hope she's okay." Ash muttered to himself after taking a seat across from her, and summoned Donphan to keep them both company. All was calm for a moment before the three heard a commotion from above.

'They're here.' Pinkie thought as she tried hiding under the umbrella as best as she could. The monster tamer felt the bad vibes, and decided to do the ninja thing - watch through the shadows.

"I've got to handle a few weather jobs in the area. Shouldn't take long. Just hang around town and I'll come find ya." Rainbow said as the two landed on the ground.

"That's cool I guess. I'm gonna go chow down!" Gilda answered back and watched as he old friend took flight. She looked around, and saw the perfect thing to occupy her time.

"Aah! A rattler! A rattler! Run for the hills! Every-pony save yourselves!" Granny called out after encountering what she believed to be a snake at the corn stand before slowly walking away. Due to his fights with Jessie Ash knew a snake tail when he saw one, and the item in question was seriously not one.

"This stuff aint fresh dude." Gilda said after tapping a tomato on the cart, and walked away.

"Aw, poor Granny Smith, she didn't know it was a joke. How mean." Pinkie stated about what she had just seen before adding, "No, no. I can't misjudge her. It was kind of a funny prank…I guess." PP and AK watched the fuzor further.

'Time to put this tale of mine to good use.' Gilda thought as she used her lion tail to seize an apple, and eat it in one bite.

'Cruel jokester and thief - not good qualities.' Ash thought as he saw both acts, and did not feel right letting them go unchecked.

"I did misjudge her! She's not only a meanie mean-pants. She's also a thief." PP proclaimed, but quickly calmed down while adding, "No, no, no, no. She might give it back. It's just a joke." Ash doubted that highly since it was now in the beast's stomach. They watched as Kindness did her thing for a duck family.

"Alright, little ones. This way. This way. Mama Duck, you are free and clear." She said while walking backward to make sure that the family was always in her sight.

"Hey!" Gilda shouted to the one she let bump into her.

"Please excuse me." Fluttershy said calmly.

"I'm walkin here." Griffon shouted back.

"Um…um…I'm sorry. I…I…was just trying." Fluttershy tried to explain in a quivering voice as she backed away from the Griffon out of fear.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Why don't you watch where your going, doofus." Gilda explained to the Element of Harmony before her.

"B-b-b-but I…I…" FS tried to explain to herself, but ended up getting roared by the beast before her. Kindness ran away while crying, and flew away from the others at the same time.

"That's it. She's a speed bump." The elephant muttered to himself after seeing his friend cry. Donphan was about to Roll-Out on Gilda while her guard was done, but an Aura Sphere stopped him. "Why did you stop me, boss?" The powerhouse pachyderm questioned since he knew it was the human that through that sphere.

"Remember we are outsiders here, and if we raise our hand to a native may cause problems with the ponies around here." Ash answered back from the passageway before gesturing to the woman in question.

"Oh, please, all these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail." Gilda said to the others in the area before taking flight. Donphan wasn't the only one offended by what was seen before them.

"She's a grump, and a thief, and a bully. The meanest kind of meanie mean-pants there is. I can take it, but no on hurts Fluttershy like that. No one! This calls for extreme measures - Pinkie Pie style." PP said as an idea was forming in her head.

'Something tells me I already know what she is thinking, so I better go with a plan of my own.' Ash thought before walking off with Donphan following close behind him. Several hours from then their plans were set into motion.

"Welcome. Welcome. Welcome." PP said to the ponies that were entering the Sugar Cube Corner building.

"Who's this Gilda I've heard nothin about?" AJ questioned to R since she did not recall any creature with that name before.

"I hear she's an old friend of Rainbow Dash - a Griffon, so rare." Rarity answered back as the two decided to mingle with a few new arrivals.

"You've met Gilda, right? What's she like?" Twilight questioned as she spotted, and walked closer to the timid one of the group.

"Oh, um, well…I'll tell you later, Twilight." FS said and even though she had the perfect words to describe the fuzor she did not wish to ruin the mood of the party with such language.

"Welcome. Welcome." Laughter said to a few more ponies before hearing someone approaching her.

"Um, Pinkie Pie, about this party for Gilda. Um, do you really think it's a good idea. I mean…" Fluttershy stated, but was cut off by the pony she was speaking to.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over that mean old Gilda. Your Auntie Pinkie Pie has it all taken care of." Laughter pointed out while patting her friend on the head, and then turned back to the door.

"I'm a year older than you." FS informed before seeing the screamer from earlier at the door.

"Gilda! I am so honored to host you one of my signature Pinkie Pie Party, and I really, truly, sincerely hope you feel welcome here around all of us pony-folk." PP said as she offered a hoof to the creature before her, and a big smile on her face. G accepted it, and got seriously shocked.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie, the ol` hoof-shake buzzer." Rainbow said to her new friend while chuckled after seeing what went down. "You are a scream." She added after her chuckling calmed down.

"Yeah…good one, Pinkie Pie." Gilda congratulated in a forced tone.

"Come on, G. I'll introduce you to some of my other friends." RD informed before trotting off.

"Right behind ya, Dash." She called out to the blue speedster. "I know what your up to." She whispered to the MC of the party.

"Great." Pinkie answered back with a smile.

"Ugh, I know what your planning." The Griffon clarified what she said earlier.

"Well, I hope so. This wasn't supposed to be a surprise party." The party animal said back to the guest of honor.

"I mean - I've got my eye on you." G explained back while getting aggravated with the pink one.

"And I've got my eye on you." Laughter said back while getting in pretty close to Gilda. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda. A long time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville." PP said to the others which they all did say 'hello' in various ways.

'I knew they'd like her.' RD thought as she put one of her arm's around Gilda's neck.

"Please, help yourself." The water gator said as he gestured to the spread in the center of the room.

"Vanilla Lemon Drops? Don't mind if I do." Gilda said as she spotted one of her favorite foods. There was a problem with the first one - it was spicy. "Hot." She shouted out after spewing an entry level Flamethrower which PP used to roast a marshmallow.

"Over here. Over here." The electric rodent shouted out while pointing at one of the punch cups provided. The fuzor took the glass the mouse was pointing to and chugged it down greedily only to feel the drink was dribbling on her chest feathers instead.

"What do you know - Pepper in the Lemon Drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!" Pinkie shouted with great joy in her tone.

"Priceless. Priceless." Rainbow added as she, like the others, were laughing at the guest of honor's expense. The new girl spotted a jokeless cup, rushed to it, and swallowed its contents in one gulp.

"Yeah. Hilarious." Gilda replied back after feeling her throat cool down to normal limits. The old friend decided to keep the Griffon in good mood, so she decided to point out one good thing to any party.

Hey, G, look - presents." Loyalty called out while pointing at a end table full of presents, which the bird rushed over there in a micro-second with a huge grin on her beak.

"Spitting snakes. Ha, some-pony pulled that prank on me last month." The farm girl said after watching Gilda grab a cylinder shaped object, pulled on the main ribbon, and saw several fake snakes spew all over the winged woman's face.

"Ha, ha. I bet I know who that was." G said after over hearing that piece of news from the apple worker, and glared at the pony she believed to be responsible for humiliating her.

"You do?" Pinkie questioned after seeing that the guest of honor was looking right at her, and added fluttering eyes for good measure. A small while later everyone was talking amongst themselves and listening to Fluttershy's birds sing a beautiful song. "Cake time every-pony!" PP shouted out to all while wheeling out a delicious two layer cake.

"Oh! Can I blow out the candles?" The baby dragon questioned since, to him, that was always a fun thing to do.

"Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike. She is the guest of honor after all." TS informed her little brother about that fact.

"Exactly." The Griffon stated after shoulder checking the little one onto the floor before blowing them out. 'Let's eat.' She thought with a big smile to those around her, but heard the candles re-light themselves, so she tried seven more times. Each attempt had the same results: they re-light and every creature at the party laughed at her.

"Re-lighting Birthday candles, I love that prank! What a classic!" Spike said to no one in particular before going back to laughing about it.

"Now, I wonder who could have done that?" Laughter questioned while looking at all of the party guests for any guilty faces.

"Yeah, I wonder." Gilda stated with her anger slowly rising to the surface/

'It's almost time.' Ash thought as he watched the Griffon while leaning on the far wall.

"Who cares! This cake is amazing!" The dragon of the party commented while tunneling through the cake and emerging at the top.

"Spike!" The Magic factor shouted out to him.

"What? It's great cake. Try some." He informed back, and offered to the student of Celestia. Hearing that caused Totodile, Pikachu, and even Quilava to burrow as the dragon did while Bulbasaur simply cut pieces of cake with Vine Whip for the others to enjoy starting with - Staraptor.

"Hey, G, you're not upset about some silly candles?" RD questioned out of concern because her friend did not seem to be in a very happy mood at the moment.

"No way, Dash. Like I said - I'm done with a good prank." The Griffon answered back in a forced happy tone which the Monster Tamer caught, and knew that his exposure plan was working just fine.

"Come on, then, let's have some cake." The speed factor stated and trotted over to the Grass/Poison type. G decided to address something to some-pony before she ate by grabbing PP by the neck and forced her to have a conversation behind the cake.

"Hey, I'm watching you - like a hawk." The Griffon said in her best tough girl tone.

"Why, can't you watch me like a Griffon?" PP questioned back; completely unfazed by her tone. While Ash's creature were dishing out the cake AJ decided for them to have some fun as they waited for their slice.

"Hey, y`all, it's pin the tail on the pony. Let's play!" Apple Jack called out after spotting a familiar poster on the wall.

"Oh, my favorite game! Can I go first? Can I have the Purple Tail?" Generosity stated to the others before reaching for it with her mouth, but it was snatched up by the guest of honor.

"Well, I'm the guest of honor, and I'll have the Purple Tail." Gilda said just to make Rarity feel bad before walking over to the poster.

"Yeah, Gilda should definitely go first! Let's get you blindfolded." The party animal informed as she let the dragon have the honor of blindfolding her.

"What are you doing?!" G shouted to the creature she heard walking away from her. With her guard down PP grabbed hold of their main guest and spun her really fast.

"We're spinning you around and around, and you pin the tail on the pony. Now, walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Pinkie informed while guiding Gilda to the poster.

"Now walk straight ahead and pin the tail." G mocked back to the helper before adding, "Ha, yeah right. This is another prank isn't it. I'm going this way." The feathered one then proceeded to do just that, and walk into the completely wrong direction.

"Wait, the poster is this-." Pinkie informed, but stopped to watch the guest of honor step into some cake frosting causing her to slid and crash into the kitchen. After the crash the brown feathered one walked out, and heard the party planner's voice. "Uh, Gilda, you pinned the tail on the wrong end." PP stated as they saw that Gilda now had a Purple mustache on her beak.

'Here we go.' Ash thought as he could see that the Griffon could no longer suppress her anger, and general loathing to this whole thing.

"This is your idea of a good time?! I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life! And Pinkie Pie, you! You are Queen Lame-O with your weak little party pranks! Did you really think you could make me loose my cool?! Well, Dash and I have TEN TIMES as much cool as the rest of you put together. Come on, Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene. COME ON, RAINBOW DASH. I said - WE'RE LEAVING!" Gilda explained to the whole group, and wanted to leave with her one true gal pal.

'You knew she had this side to her, didn't you?' RD thought as she glanced back to Ash, and now knew why someone as honorable as him would want her to prank the party. "You know, Gilda, I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party." She confessed which surprised her old friend greatly.

"What!?" Gilda answered back in alarm, and could see that the pink one was just as surprised as she was.

"So, I guess, I'm Queen Lame-O." RD continued on from where she left off.

"Come on, Dash, your joshing me." The Griffon answered back - not believing that her friend was responsible for all those pranks.

"They were not all meant for you specifically. It was just dumb luck that you set them all off." RD explained, and did feel sort of bad that her friend was that unlucky at the party.

"I should have known! That Dribble Glass had Rainbow Dash written all over it." Laughter stated to Spike. Gilda tried to disprove what her friend was saying - believing that she was saying that to defend the pink one.

"No way, it was Pinkie Pie! She set this party up to set me up - to make a fool out of me!" Gilda informed them about how she viewed Pinkie Pie.

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought this would turn that frown upside down." The party animal explained back while twisting her entire head until her mouth was facing the ceiling.

'How does she do that?' Pikachu thought while rubbing the back of his own neck since, to him, that would really hurt.

"And your sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself." RD said before walking forward, and added, "You know this isn't how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about maybe you should find some new cool friends someplace else." Her comments has once again fueled the bird woman's anger.

"Yeah?! Well…you…you…you…you are such a flip-flop! Cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore give me a call." Gilda explained before walking out the door.

"Not cool." The ROY G BIV said after her old friend left Sugar Cube Corner.

"Wow! Talk about a party pooper." The dragon informed while pointing to the door that had just closed shut. Every-pony was talking about what just happened and RD decided apologize to what had just happened.

"I'm sorry, every-pony for bringing Gilda here. I didn't know how rude she was, and Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you threw for her." The weather controller informed in a sincere tone.

"If you want to hang out with party poopers that's your business." PP answered back with a smile on her face.

"I'd rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?" The blue speed demon stated, questioned, and offered a hoof.

"No hard feelings." The party animal said back and shook the hoof causing both to be shocked. When the shock stopped every-pony laughed because they were both wearing hoof-buzzers.

"Hey, Pinkie, sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks like I'm the one that misjudged you." TS apologized for her earlier comment, and should have had more faith in her friend's gut instincts.

"It's okay Twilight. Even you can't be a super smart smarty smart-pants all the time." Laughter commented to Magic since she was okay with ponies underestimating her calls. "Come on, every-pony, there's still a whole lot of party to finish." She said to all of the guests, and with Gilda gone Ash released the rest of his friends, and joined in on the celebrating himself. When the party was done, and they were at their homes TS decided to do one last thing before heading to bed - write a letter which read -

"Dearest Princess Celestia

Today I learned that it's hard to accept when some-pony you like wants to spend time with some-pony that is not so nice. Though it is impossible to control who your friends hang out with. It is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend, and one who is true will surely come to light.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, My most faithful student…" Princess tried to write back while using the ink the Purple Pony gave to her, but saw the words disappear. The royal one saw the sticker slide off revealing that it was invisible ink. "Oops, wrong ink." She said to herself before using her own supply to write her reply, and even chuckled at the joke. As everyone was resting Ketchum was visited by familiar thoughts - thoughts of some old gym battles.

"Weird. Why would I be thinking about my fights with: Brock, Erika, Bugsy, Jasmine, Roxanne, Roark, Gardenia, Byron. I guess I'm just a little homesick - nothing to worry about." Ash said to himself after waking up to have a midnight snack, and then went right back to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 6

Boast Busters

After helping her friends with the ticket thing, bucking for apples, and finding the truth behind appearances Twilight Sparkle decided to spend some time on her specialty and her 'little brother' was more than happy to help her out. "Come on, Twilight. You can do it!" The dragon encouraged the spell caster to persevere.

"Okay. Here goes." The student of Celestia said before concentrating some of her magic into her horn. After a few moments her latest mystical skill was revealed - facial hair.

"Ha-ha! Ya did it." Spike said before going over to the check list to cross this one off. "Grooming magic. That's number 25. 25 different kinds of tricks, and counting." He said to his sister figure which caused her to blush out of embarrassment. "And I think this is the best trick so far. Hello Rarity. What's that? Aw, it's nothin just my awesome mustache." The dragon said while looking at himself in the mirror in the room.

"Sorry, Romeo. As attractive and enticing as you look it's just for practice and it's got to go." TS explained before undoing her magic on the dragon in the room.

"Wait!" Spike shouted in protest, but it was already too late. "Oh, rats." He said while looking down at his bare face in disappointment. She could only chuckle in a good hearted manner after seeing him like that.

"Maybe some fresh air will help you forget about your mustache?" Twilight offered and with that the two headed outside just for a stroll around town.

"25, Twilight. 25 different kinds of tricks, and counting." He repeated what he said earlier and what he had said didn't sit well with him. "I though unicorn were only supposed to have a little magic that matched their special talents?" The dragon questioned since that's how it was back home.

"True. For ponies who talents are cooking, or singing, or math, but what it a unicorn's special talent is magic?" She informed, and questioned to her old friend.

"Like you, Twilight, and you know a ton of magic." The baby dragon pointed back out to her which put a smile on the hoofed one's face.

"Oh, Spike, stop. I'm sure there are a lot of ponies right her in Ponyville that knows just as much magic as me." She said back to him since she didn't like to be judged any different then any pony else.

"Are you kiddin? I don't think there is another pony in all of Equesria, Twilight." He countered back to her since he believed such praise for what she is capable of.

"Coming through!" A pair of voices shouted as they stampede through town which went through where the two were standing, and took the dragon with them.

"Snips? Snails? What's going on?" The dragon shouted out before they went to a screeching halt which sent the little one flying.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" An orange male unicorn said before watching the leather back crash landing before him. "There is a new unicorn in town." He informed after the dragon's landing.

"Yeah, they said that she has more magical powers that any other unicorn ever." A short blue pony stated almost with a fan-boy tone in his voice. The two heard the last part, and one of the two decided to clear that up.

"Really?" Twilight question as she felt her confidence leave her the instance she heard that piece of news.

"Aw, no way. That honor goes to Twilight here." Spike defended which did make her feel a little better.

"Where is this unicorn?" TS questioned the two fan-boys since she had a feeling that they knew exactly where this pony was. They heard the question and were only too eager to spill that bean.

"She's in the town square. Come on." The orange one said before jumping over the tiny one, and raced over to that location.

"Yeah, come on. Whoo-hoo." The second one said as he too sped off. Ever curious the two decided to follow them just to find out what was going on. Unknown to them was that a bird saw and heard it all.

"I better go tell, Ash.' The bird thought before flying off to the ever helpful human. Ash, who was helping some gardeners, heard the message from on of his flyers, and decided to see this with his own two eyes. When every-pony, Poke`mon and human were standing before a wagon of sorts a voice began to speak:

"Come on, come all, come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The voice said as the wagon transformed into a make-shift stage which featured a strange blue pony with a cape and hat. "Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats ever witnessed by pony eyes." The blue pony said for all to hear.

'Man, even back when we were first starting out I don't think Gary was this full of himself, and even if he was at least he had the muscle to back up his words.' Ash thought while groaning in annoyance at the firework display. He was not the only one that felt that way since there were a few others in the front of the crowd that didn't like this girl.

"My, my, my - what boasting." R stated after seeing that display the new girl used.

"Come on, no pony is as magical as Twi-Twi-Twi-Oh! Hey, Rarity, I uh…MUSTACHE!" He stammered and shouted before bolting, but as he left the dragon saw a smart alec smirk on the electric rodent, who was resting on Ash's head, face as he sped away.

"There's nothing wrong about being talented, is there?" The spell caster of the six questioned to her main friends with a worried tone.

"Nothin at all." AJ stated calmly before adding, "Cept when someone goes around showing it off like a school philley with fancy new ribbons." She added that while glaring at Trixie who summoned a bouquet of flowers for herself..

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us." Generosity stated which made their Magic factor feel bad of her accomplishments.

"Especially when you have me around being better than the rest of us." Loyalty said to them with a proud smile, but the angered glare from Honesty quickly silenced her. "Uh, I mean - yeah, magic, shagic. Boo!" She quickly stated, and prayed that would clear her of her earlier comment.

"Good try." Ash said to Rainbow Dash since he thought she at least some kind of encouragement for the effort. The speed factor's comment did not go unheard as the speaker decided to use it to her advantage.

"Well, well, well: it seems we have some nay-Sayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria." The new girl said to them which wasn't winning her any friends at all.

"Just who does she think she is?" The fashionable one questioned to the spell-caster.

"Yeah. Since we all know that Twilight here is-." Spike, who went away to center himself, said, but was cut off by his sister.

"Spike, shh." She stated before pushing him off to the side: away from the crowd.

"What? What's wrong?" Spike questioned to his sister figure with a worried tone.

"You see how they reacted to Trixie I don't want anyone thinking I'm a show-off." TS explained before hearing another firework display go off. At this moment the speed factor of the six decided to do something about this new girl.

"So, Great and Powerful Trixie, what makes you think your so awesome anyway?" RD questioned after zipping right up to the boaster.

"Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie have magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major." She proclaimed back causing several fireworks to shoot out and one formed the bear in question.

'Must be their world version of Ursaring.' Ash thought as he saw the bear with a star on the forehead. Every creature there was in awe at the light show which Trixie used to her advantage.

"When all hope was lost the ponies of Puffington had no one to turn to, but the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in and with her awesome magic vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave - deep within the Everfree Forest." She explained her tale to them which didn't sit well with the trainer.

'If a town was in danger wouldn't they beseech the Royal Sisters before asking the help of a nomad magician.' Ash thought and had a gut feeling that he was right even though almost every other creature was buying into her lie.

"That settles it." The small blue pony said while pointing at the lady he wanted to go out with.

"Trixie truly is the most talented, most magical, most awesome unicorn in Ponyville." The orange one said as he waked up to the stage to really make his point.

"No! In all of Equestria!" The blue one shouted out and prayed that his statement would allow her to date him - just once. Their boasting over this hack had officially gotten on the dragon's last nerve.

"How do you know? You didn't see it, and besides Twi…" The baby dragon shouted out, but due to TS's Zipper Mouth spell the rest of his statement went unheard.

"It's true. My enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville." She boasted and none of them said anything since they were wondering if she was done boasting to them. "Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie? Well then, I here by challenge you, Ponyvillians, anything you can do better. Any takers? Anyone? Hmm, or is Trixie destined to be the greatest unicorn who has ever lived!" She shouted out, and it was then the trainer had heard enough.

'Time to put her in her place.' Ash thought before hearing Spike unzip his mouth, and plead for his sister to do something.

"Please! She's unbearable! You got to show her! You just gotta!" Spike said with his best pleading voice; sadly his cries went unrewarded.

"There's no way I'm gonna use my magic now, Spike. Especially since…" TS stopped talking when she saw the blowhard scan the audience. The blue one on stage wasn't trying to find a worthy opponent she was trying to find someone that may use the same things she had in the back.

"How about…you!" She challenged while pointing a hoof at one in particular. "Well, how about it? Hmm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't?" She challenged, and as one stammered the big-talker decided to clarify who she was talking to. "Well, little hayseed?" She added with a big hint of sarcasm.

"That's it! I can't stand for no more of this!" AJ claimed while walking up on the stage to confront this new girl.

"You show her, AJ!" Spike shouted: happy one of his 'sisters' had what it takes to stand up to this new pony.

"Can your magical powers do this?" Apple Jack questioned before doing a splendid trick involving lasso jumping, grabbing a out of reach apple, and eating it in one bite. "Top that, missy." Honesty stated proudly to the new girl.

"Oh, ye, of little talent. Watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie." The magician said as she used the power of her horn to: snake charm AJ, grab the apple with the other end of the rope, bind AJ's four hooves, and shove the apple in her mouth.

'This is embarrassing.' Honesty thought as she got back to her hooves and started to hop back to the others.

"Once again the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails." Trixie boasted as her opponent hopped away. Once she was close enough the electric rodent used Iron Tail to cut her free.

"There's no need to go struttin and showin off like that." Loyalty said as she went to the defense of her friend since that was pretty low. "That's my job." She added once she had the magician's attention.

'What is she up to?' Pidgeot, who was on a nearby building roof - watching the whole thing, thought as he watched the show. The speedster flew to a windmill, spun on in for a while, flew through several clouds, went down the same hole she came up, spun around the windmill again, stopped at the stage, and let the gathered raindrops splash the back of her neck to form a rainbow above her.

"They don't call me Rainbow and Dash for nothing." RD said proudly while seeing that the first flyer was watching her from afar, and liked that.

"When Trixie is through the only thing they'll call you is - Loser." The magician muttered to herself since she didn't like how the crowd was cheering for this local like the last one, so she enchanted the rainbow, spun RD in it, and sent her flying off.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Rainbow Dash admitted since the spinning did upset her stomach. The nomad decided to assert herself as the top billing act in all of Ponyville while the big flyer glided down, and offered a wing to help her up.

"Seems that any-pony with a dash of good sense would think twice before tussling with the great Trixie." The blue one said as she conjured a rain cloud which shocked the speedy one in the tail.

"What we need is either another unicorn or a monster tamer to challenge her." Spike said as he elbowed both Twilight and Ash for support. "Someone with some magic or might of their own." He clarified even more, and it was then that the other two got the hint.

"Yeah! A unicorn to show this unicorn who's boss! And a monster tamer to hammer the point home." RD said before looking at the two in question.

"A real monster and magic tussle." AJ stated to the others, and this was making the two of them feel a little uncomfortable. Right when the two were about to send out their answer the white/purple one spoke up.

"Enough! Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace." Generosity stated to the others that she was not going to be a part of the show.

"Ooh! What's the matter? Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane." Trixie stated back to her next victim - goading her into coming up.

"Oh, it is on!" The beautician said darkly before marching right onto the stage. "You may think your tough with all your so called powers, but there's more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle." She explained before enchanting one of the purple curtains and did what she did best. "A unicorn has to have style. A unicorn's not a unicorn without grace and beauty." She explained while sporting a fancy dress, and fancy mane-do.

'Wow! Paris and Madam Herminie would probably love to have you part of her outfit making team.' Ash thought as he recalled the time when he and Dawn entered a dress-up contest and his outfit choice was a afro jungle man. The mood was spoiled when Trixie decided to upstage Generosity.

"Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her. She's strong. She's beautiful. She's…" Spike started to compliment his crush until in a flash she was…less than attractive.

"QUICK! I need a mirror! Get me a mirror! What did she do to my hair?! I know she did something terrible to my hair!" R said after seeing and hearing everyone's gasp of alarm and horror while looking right at her.

'For the sake of not being stampeded over I better not do as she asked.' Ash thought as he recalled the countless times Jessie threw a hiss fit when something bad happened to her hair, and knew that Rarity was going to react the same way.

"Nothing." Twilight said with a strained smile.

"It's fine." Rainbow Dash stated with a quick tone.

"It's gorgeous." Apple Jack said back as a way to calm her friend down. The beauty expert was calming down - believing her friends were telling her the truth, but one had to say the wrong thing.

"It's green." The dragon stated bluntly before getting glared at by the other three and slapped in the back of the head by Pikachu's tail. Haunter, who was always watching the show decided to expand on the green hair thing by floating into a house, borrowing a mirror, and showed Rarity what the dragon was talking about.

"No! Green hair?! Not, green hair!" She shouted as she saw her reflection, and twisted this way and that. After seeing that her entire mane had been changed she ran away without harming any-pony. "Such an awful, awful color." She said while running past a gardening pony.

"Well, I never." The gardening pony stated before walking away in a huff. After seeing all of that the Ghost-type believed that he had done something bad.

"Sorry, Ash." The comical one said to his old friend in a sincere tone.

"No problem, Haunter. Just return the mirror if you don't mind." Ash said back which the spirit did, and then the hero decided to address something else. "As for you Spike: when a friend of yours is having a bad mane day, try to do what the others did and fudge the truth." Spike rubbed the back of his neck out of sheepishness, and prayed that this didn't harm his chances of going out with her.

"Well, Twilight, I guess it's up to you and Ash." Spike said as he realized that this blowhard still needed to be put in her place. "Come on, show her what you're made of." He encouraged the two to fight this big talker.

"Sorry, Spike, but my skills are best for fighting, so I better be off than." Ash said as he walked off as calmly as ever. The purple pony decided to do as Ash did: only a little more nervously.

"What do you mean? I'm nothing special." She tried to reason with her little brother to drop in and leave it alone.

"Yes, you are. You're better than her." Spike encouraged the Magic factor to stand up for Honesty, Loyalty, and Generosity.

"I'm not better than anyone." She defended, and was growing uncomfortable with all the staring.

"Ha! You think your better than the Great and Powerful Trixie? You think you have more magical talent? Well, come on - show Trixie what you've got. Show us all." Trixie stated to the fourth victim.

"Who? Me? I'm just your run of the mill citizen of Ponyville. No powerful magic here. I, uh, think I hear my laundry calling. Sorry, got to go." Twilight stated and then ran off since she felt the need to do some research.

"Twilight? Ash?" The dragon questioned as he watched the brother and sister figures leave the group.

"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria. Was there ever any doubt?" She boasted and questioned while walking away. The dragon still believed that AK and TS had more skill than that wannabe.

"Here's your smoothie with extra honey. Just how you like it." A blue pony said as he presented to Trixie, who was combing her mane, the beverage on his bottom. The one with a snail marking could only stare at the magician in awe. She ignored the stare and drank her drink.

"Yes?" She questioned in an annoyed tone since their staring was starting to get on her nerves.

"Oh! Tell us another story - Great and Powerful Trixie." The one with scissors as his marking stated to his crush.

"Yeah! Tell us how you vanquished an Ursa Major!" The orange one questioned with a big grin on his face.

"Trixie is far to exhausted from performing feats far beyond imagination. Begone, with you until morning." She said back to the two fan-boys since she didn't want to speak of her lie again.

"Oh of course: Great and Powerful Trixie." Snails said as he walked away backwards.

"Anything you say. We are at your beck and call." Snips said to his crush while also walking away. Their actions caught the attention of the baby dragon who decided to question the fan-boys.

"What are you two doing?" The purple/green one questioned to the two star struck stallions.

"Just bringing the G and P T a…" The shorter one started to answer, but was cut off.

"The what?" The scaly one questioned since he had never heard of that before.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie." Snips explained back since he was more than happy to speak about his crush.

"Sheesh." The dragon muttered back since he did not understand how these two ponies could fall for this boaster's babbling.

"Just bringing her a smoothie." The crushee said to the dragon and felt good to serve his crush. The scribe decided to level with the two as gently as possible since they didn't seem such bad of guys.

"How can you fall for her lameness? She's just a showoff. Unlike Twilight who…" Spike stated and was about to explain that she had been taught under Princess Celestia herself, but was cut off by the round fan-boy.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie vanquished an Ursa Major. Can your Twilight claim that?" Snips questioned since he truly believed the word of his crush more than anyone else.

"Oh, really? Were you guys actually there?" Spike questioned back to them even though he already knew the answer.

"Well, um, uh…no. But-." The bigger fan-boy stated back with an embarrassed tone.

"But nothing! The proof is in the pudding." The dragon explained and the snail marked when chuckled since that was one of his favorite foods. "Look, unless an Ursa Major comes waltzing up the street for Trixie to vanquish I am not going to believe a word she says, and neither should you." Spike added, and prayed that his words were getting through to them.

"Hmm, an Ursa walkin up the street, eh? Snails, you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Snips questioned with an excited tone while looking up at his old friend.

"Why do they call it a flea market when they don't sell any fleas?" The taller one questioned since he really wasn't paying any attention to any of this

"Yeah. Uh…just come on." Snips said as he motioned for his friend to follow him. The dragon was still upset over his friends reluctant nature to stand up to the girl so he decided to talk to them about it. Spike tried Ash, but Primeape was standing guard, so he just went back home e.

"Twilight, would you put down that book and just listen to me." The scaly chum said to the reader a little over coming back inside.

"Didn't you see how they hated Trixie's bragging, Spike. If I go out there and show off my magic I run the risk of losing them as friends." TS explained back to her little buddy while taking her eyes off of her book for a moment.

"It's not the same thing, Twilight. You'd be using your magic to stand up for your friends." The leather one said back as a way to fight the windbag.

"No, Spike, it's exactly the same." The mystical one retorted back and was sticking to not showing off her magic.

"Come on, Twilight, anyone of these tricks; even the teeniest - would be enough to show up Trixie." Spike explained back since he was still looking for some payback for Rarity.

"I don't want to be seen as a bragger like Trixie." TS said back before summoning a door and shutting it in front of the other debater.

"But you're the best." Spike said after opening up the door.

"Ugh! Please, Spike, I said 'no'." The book worm answered back to her little friend, and it finally sunk in that she didn't want any part in showing up the new magician in town.

"If that's the way you want to be then fine." Spike said before shutting the door only to realize that it was a summoned door so he used the real one instead.

'I really hope this was a good idea.' The orange one thought as he and his friend were slowly walking through the Everfree forest to find an Ursa Major, but after taking a look at the surroundings they were having second thoughts.

"Oh, how are we gonna find an Ursa Major if I can't even see the hoof in front of my face." The blue one said as the two entered a pitch black cave. The taller one had an idea and after three tries his plan worked - a lit horn. "Oh! That's better." He said and was happy that his friend came up with such an idea until the two felt something really bad behind them.

'Who woke me up.' The creature behind them thought as he rose on all fours. After an exchange between one roar and two screams of panic the fan-boys booked it into town.

'I can't believe her sometimes.' Spike thought as he walked around town, kicking a pebble just for something to do, but his boredom was stopped when he heard screaming. "Hey, guys, where are you going?" He asked the two as they fled from him.

"Can't talk now." Snips shouted while running away.

"Got a Major problem." Snails said as he was fleeing the scene as well.

"Ursa Major to be exact." The blue one clarified. Their comments only confused the lizard…until he heard a roar and turned to see the problem, so he fled as well. This caused the three to shout out the name of their role models and flee to their respected homes as fast as they could.

"Trixie, come out!" The fan-boys shouted out as they pounded on the horse's stage door with all their might. Their ruckus woke her up, and she had a feeling that they were just wanting something from her.

"Trixie thought she said that the Great and Powerful Trixie did not want to be disturbed." She shouted to the both of them causing them to fear her for a bit, but the threat of what they woke up was far worse.

"We…we have a tiny problem." The blue fan-boy said with a nervous tone.

"Actually it's a big one." The orange fan clarified since he believed that she deserved the truth on size.

"What is so important that you cannot wait until morning to disturb Trixie." The magician stated to them before she heard a roar. Coming through the woods at the end of town came a very big bear, and with a scream of terror Trixie ran as fast as she could with her fan-boys right behind her.

'So, that's it's actual size.' Twilight thought as she was reading another book, and was grateful for the peace and quiet.

"Twilight, you've got to come-." Spike, who barged into the Library, shouted the moment he was inside the building.

"I've already told you Spike: I don't want to show up, Trixie." TS explained since she believed that is what he was going to say, so she returned to her book.

"No, you don't understand. It's…" Spike was about to explain things, but was cut off by a powerful roar.

"Is that what I think it is?" The student of Celestia questioned with a great tone of fear in her voice after hearing the roar.

"Majorly." He answered back before the two of them decided to help out in what ever why they can. At another building Ash heard the roar and decided to do the same, but sadly the bear had already cornered its prey.

"Great and Powerful Trixie you've got to vanquish the Ursa." Snips said as he hid behind his crush.

"Yeah! Vanquish the evil one!" Snails shouted out of praise.

"It took a lot of trouble to get that thing here." The blue fan-boy explained to her, and that was when she found out who did this.

"Wait?! You brought this here! Are you out of your little pony minds?!" Trixie shouted to the two of them, and it was then the two were starting to get a little nervous about their situation.

"But, you're the Great and Powerful Trixie." The crushee said to his crush and prayed that this was an act of hers.

"Yeah, remember: you defeated an Ursa Major." The orange one pointed out which the bear heard and roared in anger at the lady they were talking to.

"Uh…okay. Stand back." She said to the two before summoning the rope she used on Apple Jack from a nearby vase, and wrapped the bear with it. "Piece of cake." She said to her two fans which the bear lifted up its paw to show only two fingers were bound.

'Seriously.' The bear thought before breaking free with ease, and focused back to the three before it.

"Aw, come on Trixie." Snips shouted out to his idol.

"Yeah, quit goofing around and vanquish it, eh." Snails said since he was not amused at her antics. She summed a rain cloud for another lightning burst, but it didn't do anything. "Well, that was a dud." The taller one stated since he was at least hoping the beast would wince in pain.

"Yeah, come on. Where's all the cool explosions, and smoke, and stuff from earlier; ya know." Snips said and did not like that she was holding back. She tried again and this time a bolt did do some damage which only angered the bear even more.

'What is all that noise?' The sleeping ponies thought before going outside and looking around for an answer. They received the answer in the form of a big, mad bear. TS, AK, Pikachu, and Spike went through the fleeing crowd to the two that may know what's going on.

"What's going on?" Twilight questioned to two out of three that weren't fleeing in complete terror.

"We brought an Ursa to town." The short one of the two said proudly.

"You what!" The spell-caster shouted in alarm to the two fan-boys before her.

"Don't worry the Great and Powerful Trixie will vanquish it." The taller fan-boy shouted out for all to hear. The lady in question did not like this, so it was then the lady decided to come clean since they were about to die.

"I can't." Trixie admitted to her main admirers.

"WHAT?!" Snips and Snails shouted in alarm and disbelief at what she just said.

"I can't. I never have. No one can vanquish an Ursa Major. I only made the whole story up to make myself look better." The faker explained to them causing another shout of disbelief from the two.

'How about now?' Spike thought while poking the two and gesturing to the big bear before them.

"I have a plan." Ash shouted out as he then pulled out four Poke`balls. "Sceptile, Charizard, Pidgeot, Squirtle come on out." He shouted after throwing them outward to the bear. "You go to, Pikachu." He added before looking back on the field.

"Right." The rodent said and leapt along side his friends. When all of them were on the battlefield Ketchum was able to summon up five Aura Spheres and sent them upwards.

"Okay, guys, attack the Aura Spheres with Bullet Seed, Flamethrower, Air Slash, Water Pulse, and Thunderbolt!" Ash called out and they did as instructed. The trainer's idea was for the five spheres to explode and blind the bear so Twilight could step in, but instead they did something else: they merged together.

'This is new.' The Poke`mon thought as they watched the spheres joined together, and the moment they were one it floated down to Ash. Surprised the trainer did not know what to do until he saw the bear stare at the globe-like item in his hands, so he did the first thing that comes to mind: juggle it.

'This might be my chance.' Twilight thought as she believed it to be her turn to try something. She summed a mighty gust that bent some cattails in a nearby lake which caused a mellow tone to enter into the air.

"Nice use of No. 16." Spike said softly as he watched the entranced attacker now have a soothed look on his face. Pouring more magic into her horn she picked up a water tower, poured out the water, took it through a barn where cows poured milk into it, recapped it and kept it heading for them.

"That's…new." The bigger dragon said as he watched the whole thing. At that moment the bear was so relaxed that it almost fell on Trixie, but was instead levitated off of the ground, and given the make-shift baby bottle.

"Better give it this." Ash muttered to himself while releasing his sphere which flew right up to the bear - almost like a night light of sorts.

'Oh, man that was a serious strain.' Twilight thought as she had finished levitating the bear back to wince it came. After de-powering her horn TS heard cheers for what she had done.

"Heavens to Betsy. We knew you had ability, but not that much." Apple Jack said as she saw the whole thing, and enjoyed the show.

"I'm sorry. Please, please don't hate me." The spell-weaver said to them in her sincerest tone. Everyone was looking at one another because what she asked of them made no sense.

"Hate you?" The three that were mocked by the nomad questioned as one.

"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity, who spent most of the day washing away the green, asked her friend.

"Well, I know how much you all hated Trixie showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought." TS said to them, but was stopped by RD before she could finish.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loud mouth." Loyalty explained back which ever-pony there had to agree.

"Most unpleasant." Generosity added.

"All hat and no cattle." Honesty said to add her two cents in. Magic heard all that and looked around to all of them, and saw that they felt the same as the three.

"So…you don't mind my magic tricks?" Twilight questioned wanting to make sure she heard her friends right.

"Your magic is a part of who you are, sugar cube, and we like who you are." The farm girl explained to the sixth element. "We're proud to have a powerful and talented unicorn as our friend." She added while using a couple of words the faker described herself.

"And after whoopin that Ursa's hind quarters we're even prouder." The speedy blue one said with a genuine smile on her face.

"You are?" She questioned while looking around her and saw that every creature there was in agreement.

"Wow, Twilight, how did you know what to do with that Ursa Major?" The little brother questioned since the feat was truly wonderful to see.

"That's what I was doing when you came looking for me. I was so intrigued by Trixie's bragging that I was compelled to do a little reading up on them." She explained and felt good that research to a situation was what saved the day.

"So, it is possible to vanquish an Ursa Major all by yourself?" The dragon questioned and was feeling very proud that his sister figure had done such a thing.

"That wasn't an Ursa Major. It was a baby - an Ursa Minor." The scholar clarified which alarmed the bragger greatly.

'Oh man, she almost got squashed by a cub.' The water turtle thought as he tried his best to suppress a big laugh of picturing that.

"And it wasn't rampaging: it was just cranky because - someone woke it up." Twilight explained even further before glaring at the fan-boys. Other citizens saw where she was looking and glared at the two as well.

"Well, if that was an Ursa Minor than…what's an Ursa Major like?" Spike questioned and was fearing the size of the adult bear. TS thought of it for a moment as she recalled the measurements.

"You don't want to know." She answered back while picturing the mother rocking her baby back and forth with the globe on the cave wall - keeping the moment nice and tranquil.

"Ha! You may have vanquished an Ursa Minor, but you will never have the Amazing, Show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie." The nomad wanted to boast some more, but the sight of those strange creatures frightened her, so she chose flight than fight.

"Why that little…" RD shouted out as she saw the faker fleeing, and decided to do something about it. The first bird of them all cut off the Pegasus.

"Just let her go. Liars like her is nothing to get worked up over." Pidgeot explained

"Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson." TS said as the two slowly landed back on the earth. She spotted the fan-boys trying to tip-hoof away, so she ported before them and said, "Now, about you two…" The two tried their butt-kissing ways, but it didn't fly.

"We deserve whatever punishment you give us." Snails said as they cowered before her.

"For starters you can clean up this mess." She said while looking at the thing that was once Trixie's wagon before adding, "And…what do you think, Spike, should I give them No. 25?" This confused the ponies, but excited the dragon.

"Oh, 25, yes. And I think I deserve it too." He said back to the student.

"I think you're right." Magic answered back before focusing some magic into her horn to do her 25th trick.

"Sweet." The three of them said and with that the town went back to their homes for a good night's sleep. When at home the trainer bypassed a task he had forgotten for a while now since he was curious as to why the spheres came together.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship. I was so afraid of being thought of as the show-off that I hiding a part of who I am. My friends help me realize that its okay to be proud of your talents, and there are time that are appropriate to show them off. Especially when your standing up for your friends.

Twilight said as she wrote her letter, but stopped when she heard her scaly chum behind her.

"So, finally admit that you're the most talented unicorn in all of Ponyville?" Spike questioned as he was still sporting his mustache.

"Well…yeah, but it's nothing to brag about. So…how did it go with Rarity?" The student questioned since she wanted to change the subject as quickly as she could.

"She didn't go for the mustache." He replied back with a defeated sigh.

"You know Spike. That mustache has nothing to do with who you really are. Maybe you should try just being yourself." Twilight offered to her 'little brother'

"Or…maybe the mustache wasn't enough. Maybe if I had a mustache and a beard?" He offered back and the spell-caster did not like where this was going.

"Not this again." She said in annoyance. He then began to speak of the kind of beard that he wanted her to make for him. Back at Ash's place the monster tamer saw the items he walked past earlier.

"Oh man! The tickets I almost forgot that I still had them." Ketchum stated before heading outside where all of his friends were laughing and having a good time. "Guys, can you come over her for a bit." He called out to them which they all convened around him.

"What is it, boss?" Torterra questioned to his best pal.

"A few days ago Princess Celestia gave me a few tickets to that Grand Galloping Gala, and I think she wants some of you guys to come too, but I'll leave it up to you guys. Which six of you wants to come to the party?" He offered to them which the loners easily walked away while some of the others seemed to be considering it.

"I'll take one." The first flyer stated as he walked up to his trainer with a bow, and just like that one of the tickets in Ash's hand flew up and hovered over Pidgeot.

"Well, that takes care of the first. Just so you guys aren't worried I'll ask again later." Ketchum said to them as he put them in a desk drawer, and decided to go for a jog in the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 7

Dragonshy

While Ash had a tendency to stick with his own kind of locals, his Poke`mon, Fluttershy hung out with some of Equestria's local wildlife, and at her place - it was feeding time. Most of them were easy to feed, but there was always wanted to be above her rules, and that would be an innocent white bunny. "Now, not too fast, Angel Bunny. You wouldn't want to get a tummy-ache." She issued which angered the creature in question.

'If that's the way she wants it then I'll wipe my hands of this.' The rabbit thought as he did just that.

"You really should eat more than that, don't you think?" FS questioned politely before seeing that the animal in question was already hopping away. "It's not play time, yet." She informed while taking the carrot into her mouth, and flew after the white furred wonder.

'Right. Forgot that she was a flyer.' The bunny thought as the caretaker landed before him.

"I know you want to run, but three more bites? Two more bites? One more bite? Pretty please?" She questioned to the reluctant rabbit who kicked the food item away, and hopped away.

'That's not good. Better warn her.' The bunny thought before coughing a bit.

"Oh, goodness. Are you okay?" FS stated and questioned after going over to the small creature who coughed again. "Are you coughing because there is a carrot stuck in your throat?" She asked and did not pick up on the annoyed look in the hare's eyes. "Because you need some water?" She questioned again - wondering what was the matter with her friend.

'Seriously? You're our caretaker, and you can't even pick up on when an animal is warning her of something.' Angle thought before coughing dramatically and then motioned her head to look upward.

"Because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke." She offered, and it was then the rabbit retrieved his meal just to throw it at the back of her head. "I'll take that as a: yes." She answered herself now seeing the peeved look on the bunny's face. Her first instincts were to warn the others, and pray someone would listen to her.

'Better warn the boss.' Swellow thought before flying to his home after catching a glimpse of the coming danger, and knew that Ketchum would want to be a part of it. As one of Ash's best flyers did that Kindness got to the park, and tried to spread the word.

"Help. Help. Please, help. There's…There's a horrible cloud of smoke. It's headed this way and Aaah!" Kindness tried to explain to them in her soft spoken voice but was interrupted by a ball bouncer.

"Don't be such a scardy-pony. It's just me - future Equestria, ball bouncing record holder." Rainbow Dash explained to her old friend while bouncing a purple ball on her head and on her bum.

"This calls for a celebration!" Laughter shouted out as she was more than happy to her fellow element's achievement.

"No Pinkie Pie, this is no time for celebration. This is a time for panic. For…" The cream/pink one started to explain of a plan, but was cut off by a familiar blue gator.

"We're gonna need balloons - one for every creature in Ponyville." Totodile shouted before hopping away.

"There…There's smoke, and…and where there's smoke there's fire, and…." Fluttershy tried to explain this to the gator, but his best friend popped out of no where, and FS slammed into the back of the pony's head.

"I like the way you think, Totodile, so let's start counting - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7..." PP started to count which threw of the ball bouncer's count.

"Pinkie Pie, now I have to start over." RD explained in a miffed tone. The quiet informant used the word choice to her advantage.

"We're all gonna have to start over. In another village because ours is going to be…" The quiet one tried to explain, but even her fellow elements ignored her. "Oh, please, this is an emergency I need every-pony to-." She tried to explain but was cut off by a powerful voice.

"Listen to me!" Pikachu shouted out before shooting a Thunderbolt straight up into the air which caused every-pony in the park to turn to the ones on the bridge over a small stream.

"Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria." Twilight explained after the rodent motioned for her to explain the start of her message. After hearing that the park goers looked up and saw the dark cloud in question.

"That's what I've been trying to." FS started to say, but was interrupted.

"But don't worry. I've just received a message from Princess Celestia, informing me that it is not coming from a fire." The purple pony explained which made the listeners sigh in relief until… "It's coming from a dragon." She explained the real culprit.

"A dragon." Fluttershy with more fear in her voice than normal. After that message the Elements, Ash, and Pikachu gathered at the library to learn more of this situation.

"I'm still a little new to your world and customs, but I've got to ask - what's a dragon doing in Equestria?" Ash asked while scratching the back on his head in confusion. The other five wanted to know the answer to that as well.

"Sleeping." The student to the princess explained to the group which only confused them. "According to Princess Celestia: he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke." TS explained to them as to what the princess has informed her.

"He should really see a doctor. That doesn't sound healthy at all." PP pointed out to the others which she did have a point, but there was a bigger problem to solve.

"Well, at least he's not snoring fire. What are we meant to do about it?" Rarity questioned to the student, and even though she wished to defend her hometown, and even though they had Ash by their side: even combined they were no match for a dragon.

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do. Give `im the boot. Take that!" Loyalty informed her friend before bucking at a horse bust in the center of the room. TS was about to enchant it, but Ketchum caught it instead. He was able to pull it away during the second attack which caused the speed factor to slam into a wall of books.

'We're going to encourage him to take a note somewhere else. Princess Celestia has given us this mission, and we must not fail." Twilight informed the others as a way to motivate them.

"I know I'm going to hate myself in the morning for this, but what happens if we should fail?" The yellow rodent question before receiving a surprised gaze from his partner.

"If we do then Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next 100 years." Magic informed them all of the downside which none of them liked the sound of that.

"Talk about getting your beauty sleep." The fashion expert stated as a way to lighten the mood after hearing the downside of loosing this fight.

"Alright, everybody, I need you to gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour." The sixth pony explained to all that were there.

"Okay, guys, you heard her. The fate of Equestria is in our hooves, hands, and paws. Do we have what it takes?" RD explained and questioned to all that were there.

"Yes, we can." Ash, Pikachu, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie shouted together before heading out the door to get prepped. There was one straggler however - that was not feeling up to snuff of doing this.

"Um…Actually…" Fluttershy stated at the doorway when everyone was gone, but decided to do as the others, and get ready to face the dragon. Rainbow Dash got ready by putting on ROY G BIV face paint and roaring. Applejack got ready with the aid of her family. Pinkie Pie put party supplies in her bags and wore a pair of big, red sunglasses.

"Ew!" Rarity stated in disgust as she was getting ready, but did not like the Army helmet she was wearing so she substituted it for a camouflage hat. "Much better. Onward!" She shouted once content with her look. Fluttershy wore: floaties on all four legs, an umpire vest, a purple inner tube, and a football helmet.

"Pikachu, set up some stuff for us. I'm gonna try something." Ash said once he got home and as the voltage one packed the backpack the human decided to seek help from some of his friends. "Alright. I think the team I have will do just fine." Ash informed his friend before picking up his pack, and strapped it on.

"Let's go." Five out of seven of the party shouted as one, and rushed back to the library.

"Um, let's not." The sixth of the prepared ones said after overhearing Ash's shout-out and quivered in fear before going with them to the library. TS liked how they got ready so quickly, and stood ready to face this danger.

"Alright, guys. Listen up: I'm mapping out the fastest route. We've all got to keep a great pace if we are to get up the mountain by nightfall." Twilight explained to the standing in line team to her right.

"M-m-mountain?" FS questioned out of fear.

"The dragon is in that cave at the very top." TS informed them while pointing at a snow covered mountain with smoke at the tip.

"Looks pretty cold up there." The farm girl informed, but knew that she was tough enough to handle all forms of weather.

"You bet it is. The higher you go - the chillier it gets." RD informed her since she knew that much of the earth beneath her clouds.

'That's something I know all too well.' Ash thought as he recalled all the times he, and his team were left out in the cold. R decided to pull out one of her items a bit early.

"Good thing I brought by scarf." Generosity informed before pulling it out.

"Ooh, pretty." The cake maker shouted out after seeing the item in question.

"Sure, that'll keep you nice and cozy." The weather maker commented sarcastically as she looked at the item. While the others were having a good chuckle the rodent noticed something up with Kindness - she seemed more scared than usual.

"Um, excuse me, Twilight. I know you're busy, but…" FS stated to the map holder as she was checking her options. "But if I could just have a second." She added while TS muttered to herself over what to do. "So, um, I was thinking that…um, maybe…I should just stay here in Ponyville." She offered and received a mutter of acceptance which she liked. "Oh, good, I'll stay here, and…" She started to speak while walking off, and it was then the Magic factor finally realized what she agreed to.

"Wait! You have to come! You're way with wild animals will surely come in handy." Twilight informed the walking away one while checking over her map again. FS was about to state the bad side of the plan, but was cut off. "And don't worry about your little friends in the meadow. Spike's got it covered while your gone." She informed as the purple/green creature walked up beside her with a few critters around him.

"You can count on me." Spike vowed before Angel rapid thumped his head which caused all of them to flea from him. "Hey! Hey. Wait!" He shouted before chasing after them.

"I don't really think he's up to the task. Maybe, but…but…" Fluttershy tried to explain herself, but squealed in horror at the end of her sentence. The fellow winged one and decided to ask about this call.

"Are you sure you want Fluttershy coming along. I mean that pony is afraid of her own shadow. She's just going to slow us down." RD explained as not to talk bad about her the competitive one just thought a non fighter belonged back at home instead of the front lines.

"She's just a little nervous. Once we get going I'm sure she'll be fine." TS responded and felt confident in her statement until they heard a shout. The two saw that it was the pony in question who was startled by her shadow and hid in the bushes next to her.

'You better be right.' RD thought before walking off to get ready to head out.

"Alright guys. Move out." TS informed and the group stampeded away after going through the thorn less bush to get their friend.

"You know, Pikachu, I'm getting the feeling that Fluttershy doesn't want to go." Ash said to his friend who responded by giving the human a sarcastic look. After that he ran off to catch up to them, and once they were close enough a loud noise bellowed above them.

"What was that?" The flyer questioned after that strange noise stopped.

"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snored." The caster informed and recalled that her dragon had the same problem when he was a hatchling, but thanks to the town doc - Spike no longer had that problem.

"It's…It is so…high." FS stated as she looked upward in pure terror as she hid behind one of her hoofed friends.

"Weill it is a mountain. I'm gonna fly up there and take a look." RD said and was about to do just that before Honesty cut her off by grabbing the rainbow tail and forcing her down.

"Hold on, now. I think we should all go up there - together. Safety in numbers and all." Honesty informed while using a line that Ash used when they were getting their symbol power against Nightmare Moon.

"Oh alright." Loyalty said in defeat since the others seemed to have accepted the all together method. Once they were close enough the group climbed…except for Rainbow Dash who simply stayed airborne, but was angered that wasn't going ahead of them.

"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than the dragon scales is the jewels they use to build their nest. Oh! If I play my cards right I might convince him to part with a few." Rarity informed and recalled her conversation with the sea serpent that made himself as a make-shift bridge to get to the other side, so talking to another scaly giant should be just as easy.

"Welcome to my cave, Rarity. Care for a diamond? ROWR!" Pinkie said as she did her best imitation to be a talking adult dragon which got a laugh from all but the sixth pony.

"Guys, this is no laughing matter. Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do you think the dragon will be like?" TS stated and questioned before looking at the electric rodent on Ash's back who was pointing downward - to where they first started. "Fluttershy?" She asked and wondered if she was still down there.

"Hey! What are you waiting for? An invitation?" The speedy one questioned to the gentle one that was still at the base of the mountain.

"OH! I think I have one in my bag!" PP informed before getting one out while also shooting confetti at her friends - which they did not enjoy.

"I-It's so…so…steep." FS informed in her timid tone as she explained why she didn't want to go.

"Well, it is a cliff. You could, oh - I don't know, fly up here." The blue speedster stated and knew that her fellow Pegasus did use those wings for flight when needed.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it. Flap those wings." Ash cheered for her to try which she did after taking a deep breath, and flapped her wings. At first she was off the ground but another bellow from the dragon caused her wings to fold up out of fear which she fell back onto the ground.

"We don't have time for this." TS stated as she watched her fellow heroine try to reopen her wings with little to no success. Hearing this the orange earth pony had another idea of what to do. "What are you doing?" Twilight questioned after seeing the cow girl swipe her map.

"I'm gonna need this if I'm gonna take her around the mountain another way." AJ informed after looking at the map for a bit before coming up with a new plan.

"Around the mountain. That's gonna take them forever." Rainbow Dash informed them with a groan of aggravation. Honesty got down the mountain to meet up with Kindness which collapsed out of fear when the dragon snored again.

"Don't worry, Twi. We'll be there lickety split." AJ informed her in a comforting tone, and with nothing better to do the guys proceeded upward. Once to a level area Ash the group decided to take a break with Ash releasing his team, so they could have a little exercise.

"I win again!" Bayleef shouted out as she used her head leaf to win another tic-tac-toe game with the beauty based one.

"That's 35 games in a row." R said in a disapproving tone, but quickly added, "Best of 71." In a polite tone, and as they did that Ash sat on a big rock and started to goof of with an Aura Sphere by doing moves that he had seen on a Basketball game. While they were relaxing RD and TS were pacing and waiting for the other two like that.

"We made…it." AJ, who had FS's tail tied to her head, said before taking a breather.

"Told ya it was gonna take `em forever." RD said to the sixth one. Ash recalled his team and walked along with them, and the team was making good time until they came to a gorge. Ash, Pikachu, and five out six ponies made it over no problem, but the timid one was unsure about this.

"Your turn Fluttershy." Twilight stated in a calm tone.

"But, it's so…wide." Fluttershy answered back while holding onto the mountain she was closest to for support.

"No offense, Fluttershy, but we should be closer to the cave than this." Ash said in a polite tone to show that he wasn't too mad at her.

"You could just leap on over." Honesty offered which caused the lone pony to look at the steep fall before her, and feel even more worried.

"I…I don't know." FS responded before cowering after another loud snore from their opponent. As the others shook their heads in disappointment the electric one gestured to Pinkie than to Fluttershy to show that this was her call.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump." PP informed before doing just that. This also caused the party animal to start singing over what she just said which the others did not believe that they had time for.

'I think we do.' Ketchum thought as he saw a small smile appear on the animal lover's face who no longer feared the gorge before her.

"Okay, here I go. A hop…" She started to say which the other encouraged her to go on. "A skip, and a…" She said as she did the second step, but was interrupted on the third step.

"Just don't look down." Twilight informed which the winged one did causing her to loose focus. Thankfully the gorge wasn't really that deep - a couple of inches at best. With a bit of teamwork the young one was with the rest of her team.

"I guess I forgot to jump." FS explained while sporting a shy smile. Once everyone back on their feet the team went back to walking. Ash took point, and once they entered an area where the walls were high.

"Careful team, I believe this is an avalanche zone, so stay quiet." Ash informed them which scared the timid one, but before she could say anything Pikachu rushed over to her and kept her lips shut. "Let's move - quietly." He whispered to them before walking along/ RD brushed past a tree branch where a couple of leaves fell off and landed on one of the travelers.

"AVALANCH!" Fluttershy shouted out which caused the walls to either side of them to start rumbling. Boulders started to collapse all around them, but for reason unknown none of them touched Ash at all even as he jumping around like the others.

"Oh no! Help!" TS shouted since she was about to be harmed, but was saved.

"Is every-pony okay?" Honesty questioned while looking at their group.

"Thanks to you I am." Twilight explained as she gave her friend a friendly nuzzle on the head. Fluttershy saw this and felt even worse since her voice was the one that started the rock slide. R saw she was covered in dust so she shook it off and it all fell to PP who didn't seem to mind one bit.

"Whoo-hoo! Let's do it again!" Pinkie shouted as she hopped for joy over what had happened to them.

"this is why a girl always packs extra accessories." Rarity informed them before pulling out a back-up scarf, but suddenly grew concerned. "Oh, please tell me I brought the tiara that goes with this." She pleaded while peeking into her bag.

"I think we have bigger problems than have our hair bows match our horseshoes." The tomboy informed his friend before gesturing to the closed off path before them.

"Sorry." FS said in a sincere tone to the others.

"No problem, Fluttershy. Just adds more excitement to the adventure. Come on, let's get to climbing." Ash said before doing just that. The others were amazed that nothing seemed to slow this guy down - not even a rock slide. "See, no problem." Ketchum commented as he went up and then down the hill with ease before watching the others following after him.

'Where does he get all of his energy?' Twilight thought as she was the first of the six to get down, and was surprised at the monster tamer's stamina. As for the others Fluttershy lost her hoofing which ended in a pile up of sorts.

"My apologies." R said as the speed factor tried to get her free.

"Not your fault." RD clarified while glaring at the pony responsible. The group got back to walking and the main flyer decided to bring up a point that had been bugging her since this whole mess started.

"Still think it was a bright idea to bring Fluttershy along?" The blue pony questioned the purple as they neared their destination.

"We're about to find out. We're here." TS said back before staring at the rather large entrance before them. At this time Ash thought it best to summon all that he brought along, and they all stood ready for orders. "Rainbow Dash - you and Pidgeot will use your wings to clear the smoke." She instructed to the flyers.

"We're on it." The big bird said as the two of them went skyward.

"Rarity, Bayleef, Totodile, and Pinkie Pie - I want you four to create a distraction in case things get too hairy." TS instructed, and in that instance the gator and the pink one started thrashing rubber chickens about which confused most.

"Thanks for relieving some of the tension from this fight." Ash said as he chuckled at their antics. The student of the Royal one decided to get back to assigning jobs.

"Applejack - you and Tauros get ready for the apples in case he gets ready to attack." TS went on which the orange earth pony tossed the apples in her mouth in the air, and easily bucked them to a tree.

'As battle ready as any of my brothers would be.' The bull thought but tried to focus instead of letting his softer side get the better of him at the moment.

"But it shouldn't come to that because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up, and between the five of us we should be able to convince him why he needs to go." TS explained to the team which did seem like a solid plan. "Is everybody ready?" She questioned and after receiving various 'yes' statements the bookworm added, "Okay then, we're going in." With that Ash, Pikachu, Twilight, and Snorlax all walked in.

"So, Fluttershy, any call on how to wake up a sleeping dragon without upsetting him." Ash questioned to the nature lover since almost every time he woke up his oldest of dragons the trainer received a Flamethrower to the face. At that moment the group stopped, and looked at their party.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight questioned before turning back, and after the big sleeper stepped away none of them saw the timid one near them. "Oh, come on." She muttered as they went back outside and saw the pony in question with her head in the dirt. "Come on, we have to do this. Now! Every second that dragon sleeps is another acre of Equestria that is covered in smoke." TS explained as she, the other elements, Ash, and his team all tried to force her to face her fear.

"I…I…I can't." Fluttershy responded causing all to collapse in aggravation.

"Oh, great. She's scared of caves now." RD explained while gesturing over to the object in question.

"I'm not scared of caves. I'm scared of…" Kindness tried to explain herself, but the last word fell silent.

"What's that, sugar cube?" Applejack questioned since she did not hear the last part.

"I'm scared of…" She spoke again, and again the last part was missed.

"One last time?" TS offered to her friend.

"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy admitted it, and at that time another powerful snore was heard. Within the puff of smoke she hid behind Honesty, and prayed no one noticed.

"But Fluttershy you have an amazing gift of dealing with all sorts of animals." Twilight said as she spotted the pink/cream spot on the yellow tail, and raced to it.

"Yes, because they're not dragons." She responded back to her friend.

"Oh, come on! We've seen you walk up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing." Rainbow Dash explained since she thought that that moment was pretty tough.

"Yes because he wasn't a dragon." FS replied back before hiding behind her friend. Ash decided to point out a fact of his own.

"I've seen you share a siesta with Charizard and Garchomp once, and you didn't seem worried then." Ketchum pointed out and recalled such a moment, and even though Charizard wasn't classified as a dragon - he beaten them, and in his book that made the Fire type in the same league as a dragon.

"Since you raised them.. I know that they won't eat a pony while we sleep." Kindness explained to the human which he did see her logic.

"Spike is a dragon. Your not scared of him." Pinkie Pie pointed out with a smile on her face.

"Yes because he's not a huge, gigantic, terrifying enormous, teeth mashing, claw slashing, horn wearing, smoke snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally grown-up dragon." She explained and prayed that that much of an explanation would stop their pestering.

"But if your so afraid of dragons why didn't you say anything before we came all the way up here?" Twilight questioned since she wanted to know that much from the timid one.

"I was afraid to." The shy one said which gave reason for the other flyer to groan out of annoyance. The others decided to try and cheer her up as best as they could.

"All of us are scared of that dragon." The farmer explained to her as she helped the timid one back to her hooves, but one spoke out from that comment.

"I'm not." RD said proudly, but the others glared at her for that crack.

"Okay, most of us are scared of that dragon." Tauros explained to her before letting his female friend pick it up from there.

"But we've got a job to do. So, get in there with Ash, Twilight, Pikachu, and Snorlax and show `em what your made of." AJ said in an encouraging tone,

"I…I…I…just…can't." The timid one said before walking off. The others were worried for their friend, but at the moment they still had a job to do.

"Snorlax, stay out here with her." The trainer instructed to the big one who nodded in acceptance. Without the animal whisperer Twilight, Ash, and Pikachu decided to hope negotiation will work.

"He probably doesn't know what he's doing, right?" TS offered to the others as they were heading in the cave to confront the slumbering giant. The other four answered back 'yes' as they hid in the safety of the outside of the cave.

"No worries. I'm sure he will appeal to reason." Ash encouraged her even though his oldest friend had his doubts. Those doubts were settled when they saw just how big the beast was.

"Excuse me…Mr. Dragon. Oh, good, your awake. Please allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Twilight Sparkle, and my friends and I are residence here in Equestria - Ponyville to be exact." She informed while choking on his morning breath.

"We have come here to ask you that you find a different place to take your nap. You see you are doing a lot of snoring, and breathing out a lot of smoke and Equestria can't survive a hundred years in a dark haze. You understand, right?" Ash questioned the beast as he saw the dragon stand up.

"So, you'll find another place to sleep?" The book smart one questioned, but the dragon laid back down and blew a cloud of smoke to the three. This caused them to rejoin the others, and prayed one of the others could do something.

"So much for persuading him." RD commented as the three came back to join them. Ash wished that his dragons didn't turn down his offer, but since kind of mission needed to be done gently it was probably best that the brawlers didn't come with.

"If asking real nice like doesn't work than what?" Pikachu questioned to the others while scratching his head in confusion.

"Obviously this situation calls for a little polished charm. I'll take of this, guys." Rarity said as she trotted into the cave. The Grass themed dino was a little iffy about her plan, but decided to remain in the back with the others. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't possibly head back home without mentioning what hansom scales you have. And those scales have to be hidden away in some silly cave for a hundred years." R said as she slipped a necklace around her neck.

'Yeah, I guess she's right.' The dragon thought as he took her words to heart.

"Personally, I think you should skip the snoozing, and be out there showing them off. Obviously I'd be more than happy enough to watch your jewels while your gone." The beauty themed one commented which caught his attention.

'So, that' her game!' He thought in anger before scaring her off, and taking the jewels she dropped in her fright.

"I was this close of getting that diamond." The white/purple one said as she began moping while sitting on a rock outside of the cave.

"You mean: asking him to leave, right?" Bayleef offered to her fellow four legged friend in an angered tone.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." The fashion expert commented back and did not sound convincing. At that moment they two heard some chatter and saw that the water gator and the pure pink pony were both in a strange outfit.

"Interesting outfit choice, my friends." Ash said back at their strange outfits that made them seem to be the center piece to a birthday party.

"Exactly, getting someone to laugh is a sure fire way to get someone on your side." Totodile said to his partner before the two of them trotted into the cave.

"Hi." The both of them said to the dragon before a loud ruckus was heard.

"Apparently he doesn't like laughing…or sharing." Pinkie said as the two of them hobbled back with their outfits in shambles.

"Ok, that does it! We've tried persuasion, charm, and…whatever it is Pinkie Pie and Totodile does. It's time we stopped wasting time." The blue one shouted before flying into the cave.

"Rainbow, hold on!" The big bird cawed in a worried tone, but his plea did not work since she was still motivated for kicking butt.

"GET OUT!" She shouted before bucking the dragon right in the kisser. Sadly that only made the scaly foe sneeze, and become very unhappy. She tried to apologize for her move, but the beast roared which sent her rolling which led to her party being treated like bowling pins.

"Guys, prepare to fight." Ash called out, and with that Ash's team stood ready for a brawl while the five coward at the sight of this angered dragon. However, before he could launch a single strike the dragon shot out a powerful smoke attack which slammed them all into a big boulder.

'That breath packs a wallop.' The big Poke`mon thought as he tried to cushion the other's slam, but ended up dazed in the process. Half of the stone shattered behind them which showed off the timid one - still frightened over the danger before her, but the fear was dashed when she saw that her friends seemed really hurt.

"How dare you." She said in a timid tone which the overblown lizard responded by glaring at the last one. "How dare you!" She shouted with a lot more emotion. "Listen here, mister. Just because your big doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth, sharp claws, snore smoke, and breath fire, but you do it - I repeat NOT: HURT MY FRIENDS! Got that?" Fluttershy issued as she got right up in his face.

"Is my head still spinning, or is this really happening?" Ash asked the others as he was seeing this brave side of the quiet one, and it was very impressive.

"Well?" FS questioned wanting an answer from her question.

"But that rainbow one kicked me." The dragon responded back and pointed an accusing claw to the one in question.

'Got that right. I knew you felt it.' The pony in question with a satisfied smile on her face.

"And I am very sorry about that." The calm on stated which confused the attacker since she thought her move was just. "But your bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know that if you take a nap your snoring could be a health hazard to other creatures." She reasoned to him.

"But I…" The dragon tried to debate with her, but was cut off.

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister. What do you have to say for yourself? I said - what do you have to say for yourself?" She stated and questioned to the beast who started crying because she was starting to scare him.

"Didn't see that coming." The rodent muttered as they all watched the beast sob up a storm.

"There. There. No need to cry. Your not a bad dragon. You just made a bad decision. Now, go pack your things. You just need to find a new place to sleep." She instructed/informed while flying back down to the rest of her team.

"You did it! I knew you could do it." Twilight shouted with glee before they all watched the dragon grab his things and fly away. With the danger part the team headed back down the mountain and back into town.

"Let's get to work, Pidgeot." Rainbow Dash called out and the two took to the air, rallied all other flyers, and went to work clearing the air. As that was going on Spike was having problems with one of the forest creatures.

"I said - get back here." The baby dragon called out as he chased the rabbit, but ran into a bookshelf instead. The fuzzy one tried climbing, but the dragon was able to catch the visitor by the foot. "How does Fluttershy put up with you furry little things?" Spike questioned the rabbit as he tried to get free from the grip.

"Spike, take a letter." TS said to her scribe once she got back into the library.

"With pleasure." He answered back while dropping the rabbit on the close by ground, and retrieved his writing material. He then wrote the note that read:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I'm happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and it was my good friend - Fluttershy that convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can me an amazing source of strength, and could even help you overcome your greatest fear. Always your faithful student.

Twilight Sparkle

"Twilight, you've got to come see this." AJ said which caused the student to look out one of her higher windows. "She's just five away from a new pony record." Honesty informed as Loyalty went back to what she was doing - ball bouncing.

"347, 348, 34-." Rainbow counted down before a roar was heard causing her to loose the ball, and the record. "Dragon!" She shouted with fright before fainting causing all around to laugh. "Why are you laughing? That awful dragon is back." She questioned and informed them.

"Actually, that was only Garchomp." Ash informed before pointing up at the dragon above them. The final stage creature heard his name and decided to land for a bit.

"Garchomp, you scared me…I mean, uh, you broke my concentration." RD stated to the beast since she did not want to admit that she could feel fear. The beast gave her an apologetic roar before flying off.

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash. Not every-pony can be as brave as me." Fluttershy stated to the athlete since she was still feeling confident with her tango with the big dragon. The speed factor spotted a simple leaf falling and came up with something.

'I'll show her.' RD thought before blowing the leaf upward which landed on her rump. As soon as it landed she shrieked in terror, and fell to the ground. This still got a laugh out of all of them because it was sincerely funny.


	9. Chapter 9

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 8

Look before you sleep

Most creatures today were straightening up the landscape due to a scheduled downpour. Every thing was going swimmingly…except for one worker. 'There we are: reattached.' A worker thought as she reconnected a broken branch back to its home, but something was still wrong. "Perfect." The worker said aloud after doing some topiary work, and thought it perfect until another worker had other ideas.

"Just take the broken limb down, Rarity. Don't you care about anything other than pretty-fying?" Honesty questioned to her fellow element after lassoingthe limb, and forced it back to ground.

"Some-pony has to. You're making an absolute mess of town square, Applejack." Generosity commented back while gazing at all the fallen limbs.

"Yeah, well, the storm's going to make an even bigger mess if we don't prune all these loose branches off, so they don't fall down on anyone." AJ responded before looking at all the Poke`mon and their partner helping in the clean up - especially how Kingler was using his own claw as a container as the others were picking up the branches.

"I simply cannot imagine why the Pegasus pony would schedule a dreadful downpour this evening and ruin what should have been a glorious sunny day." R counted and watched as winged horses along with Ash's birds covered the sky with dark clouds. Beedrill heard their squabble and decided to end it.

"Please, try to think of it in a more practical sense. They accidentally skipped the scheduled sprinkle last week, so we need one doozy of a whammy to make up for it." The insect informed the beauty based one after buzzing over to them.

"Oh no! My wonderfully styled mane will be ruined!" Rarity shouted out as the sprinkling started. Out of instinct Ketchum motioned for the others to head home, and for some to watch over Beedrill since the human knew wet insect wings were a hazard.

"You should have hurried up and finished the job already." Applejack informed as she watched the pocket creatures walk away while their tamer remained behind.

"It's coming down too fast. Help me!" R informed and shouted to the only ones in the area. AJ and AK scanned around and spotted an object that might help.

"There. Take shelter at that bench while Applejack and I handle the last of the clean-up." Ash offered while pointing at a simple bench, and for the sake to get out of the rain she galloped over to it, but stopped as soon as she reached it.

"No! No! No!" She shouted out when she saw one of her worst fears.

"What now?" AJ questioned after the two followed after her once they saw that she was just standing beside it.

"I rather not get my hooves muddy." The fashion expert informed while looking at her white as snow upper left hoof.

"There's just no pleasing you - is there?" The farm girl questioned even though she already knew the answer. "Everythings got to be just so." She added to her first statement.

"Oh, and how does muddying up my hooves serve any useful purpose?" R questioned to the hard worker.

"Ya'll wouldn't know useful if it came up and bit ya." AJ commented back, and stood by what she just said.

"That doesn't even make any sense." Generosity counter stated to her friend with a confident smile on her face. The two exchanged 'does, does not' comment before going with the infinity and infinity plus one part.

'Is this what Brock and Tracy had to deal with when Misty and I got into an argument.' Ash thought since he knew that this yell off was a waste of time and energy when this mess could be solved peacefully.

"What say - we go our separate ways before one of us says something she will regret." Rarity offered after the two shared an angered glare with one another.

"I reckon ya'll are gonna say something you'll first!" The earth pony shouted back as their glares intensified.

"On the contrary - I am most certain that it will be you who says something you will regret first." The white/purple one commented as she emphasized 'you' in her comment.

"I'm not saying anything!" The farm girl shouted.

"Nor am I!" The fashion expert shouted back to her friend.

"Ya'll be on your way then." AJ instructed while shooing her friend away with her upper right hoof.

"After you!" R countered while motioning with her own upper right hoof. They glared a bit and then backed away while glaring. Ash shook his head after hearing all of that and believed that his two friends had the patience of a priest to deal with his and Misty/May's verbal fights without sending Onix or Scyther to quiet them down.

'Strange I feel a…' Ash sensed something coming, but before he could finish his thought a clap of thunder startled all three of them.

"Prehaps we should stick together for now? Until we find shelter." Rarity questioned as she hugged AJ for support.

"Uh-huh. Perhaps we should, and fast." AJ answered back and did not like that the storm seemed to be picking up steam. Ash knew that seeking shelter was top priority when it came to storms, so he needed to help his pony pals even though one had decided to take shelter with the bench.

"Nice and dry under here…sorta." AJ said and did find the mud somewhat of a nuisance, but made due.

"If you are worried about muddy hooves then I have the solution, Rarity." Ash informed her before going over to the bench. "I'll just put it in a less muddy spot." He informed them which seemed better than his first brainstorm - his jacket/shirt as cover for their hooves.

"I suppose that will have to do." Rarity comment at Ketchum's idea, but the moment he placed his hands on the seat a voice called out to them.

"Applejack. Rarity. Ash." The voice shouted, and then repeated which caused all to look over at the source of the voice. The three looked over and saw that it was a fellow Element of Harmony.

"Twilight." Generosity and Honesty, who got up from under the bench, said together after seeing their friend.

"Come on in, you guys. Quick." She said while motioning for the three to come inside. The ponies quickly did so while Ash saw that his Water-types were all out and enjoying this rain, but he knew they knew that they were doing, so he let them be.

"Whoa, Nelly. Is hiding in a tree the best place to be in a lightning storm?" The farm girl questioned since it did not seem safe. Ash, who was jogging behind them, knew that she had a point thanks to a television show with an episode called 'Electrical Storm' which informed the viewers the dos and don'ts of Electrical Storm safety.

"It is if you have a Magical Lightning rod protecting your home like I do. Come on in." Magic informed the three which that was one thing they liked to hear.

"We are most grateful for your invitation." Rarity stated with a courtius bow to her friend.

"Thank ya kindly for your hospitality." Applejack said as she walked on in, but was stopped by the groomer who pointed at the bucker's muddy hooves.

"Uh, do be a polite house guest, and go wash up please, won't you." R commented to her friend before walking into the building.

"If I have to spend one more moment with that fuss-bucket Rarity today I can't be held responsible for what I'm about to do." AJ muttered and went outside which was noticed by the trainer.

"Don't worry about the hose, Applejack. I've got a better idea." Ash said to her before adding once he spotted a familiar face, "Buizel, can you come over here for a minute." The creature sped over thanks to his Swift Swim.

"You called?" The tough guy questioned to his partner.

"Help clean off Applejack's hooves with Water Gun, but keep the pressure down." Ash informed before walking in with the others.

"Some storm, huh. The Pegusas ponies sure outdid themselves this time. I hope you and Applejack don't have any trouble getting home." Twilight stated to her beauty based friend with a concerned tone.

"It may indeed be a problem." Rarity answered back since she really didn't like getting her mane wet.

"Well, your welcome to stay with me. Spike, is away at Canterlot on royal business." TS offered to them with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm home all alone tonight." She added and that was when an idea hit her. "You three should totally sleep over we'll have a slumber party. I've always wanted one of those." The book smart one stated, but that word confused the monster tamer.

'Slumber Party?' Ash thought of the foreign word since he had never been to one himself - too busy with his quest. 'Can't be too hard.' He thought before bowing as a sign that he was in.

"Oh goodness, uh, I do believe I have another engagment scheduled for this evening that completely slipped my mind until just now. Oh, silly me, I can't possibly stay here all night…with Applejack." R explained back as to why she needed to leave the nice, warm home as soon as possible.

'Oh, this is going to be so exciting.' TS thought as she was too excited about her idea to hear out her friend's statement. She rushed over to one section of the library, and levitated a certain book to her.

"Slumber 101. All you've ever wanted to know about slumber parties, but were afraid to ask." Rarity read the first sentence of the book Twilight floated before her.

'At least there's a how to guide.' The monster tamer thought, and was happy for that much.

"My own personal copy. It's a fantastic reference guide. You should see the table of contents. I've been waiting for a chance to use it, and today's the day!" TS informed before adding, "This is going to be so great." Seeing how happy she was to do this Ketchum decided to put all of his effort into it, but the human could tell that the other unicorn wasn't as happy.

"Great…great." She responded with fake laughter to cover her despair of doing such a thing with this particular pony. Ash looked over and saw that his sea otter was making sure all form of mud was all off her paws which he liked.

'That Buizel knows how to close a hoof.' Applejack thought as she made her way in while looking at her squeaky clean hooves. When she looked up the young horse saw something truly odd. "What in tarnation?" She shouted as she watched as Rarity put some sort of green mud on Twilight and Ash's faces.

'Sounds like she's in.' Ash thought as he reached for the book in question with his eyes closed.

"Now, wait just a got darn minute. You made me wash the mud off my hooves, but it's okay to have mud all over your faces?" AJ stated and questioned since she didn't see the logic in that.

"Silly. This is called a mud mask. It's to refresh and rejuvinate your complextion." R informed her late to the gathering friend.

"We're giving each other makeovers." TS said with utter glee since she was really enjoying herself. Ash finally found the book, and got up to show it to her while using a special Aura Sight power.

"It's all in the book." He informed while opening the book to the bucker. 'Once they get to the hair I must think of something.' Ash thought out of panic, but externally kept calm.

"Slumber 101. Everything you-" Honesty read the section shown to her, but stopped after seeing words she's never been a part of. "Oh, hey, would you look at the time. I've got to skedaddle on home I probably late for something. Good night." She said as a means to flee the scene…which she did.

'What got into her?' Ash thought since AJ seemed like the type that would not be scared too easily. A clap of thunder was heard causing something else to happen.

"Or maybe I'll sit here for a spell." She said due to fear of being a four legged lightning rod.

"Hooray! Slumber Party!" Twilight shouted with great joy while clapping her front hooves. Generosity splashed some clean mud on Honesty and then grounded it in followed by cucombers on the eyes.

"What in the world is this for?" AJ questioned since she was as new to this as the other three.

"To reduce the puffyness around one's eyes of course." The beauty expert commented back with a sigh as if they should already know that much.

"Puffyness, Shuffyness." The orange/blonde one started to say before licking the pieces of food from her face, and then ate it. "That's good eatin." She said with a smile after finishing that appatizer.

"Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book, and that will make my party officially fun." The studiaus one said after looking a the book again, and felt overjoyed that this was actually happening.

"Did you hear that, Applejack? You wouldn't want to do anything that ruins Twilight's very first slumber party, would you?" Rarity questioned to the other participant to this gig.

"A course not. You wouldn't either, I reckon." AJ said back and still had a gut feeling that the fussy one would crack first.

"So, do we have an agreement?" The fashion expert stated through clenched teeth.

"You betcha." The farm girl stated back before spitting on her hoof and offered it to the easily upset woman before her who seemed disgusted by the offer.

"OH! GROSS! You know there's messy, and there's just plain rude." Rarity commented out of disgust which rubbed Honesty the wrong way.

"You know there's fussy and there's just plain getting on my nerves." AJ said back after getting right up in her friend's face.

"Fortunetly I can get along with any pony no matter how difficult she may be." R commented back while emphasizing 'she'. The emphasis did not go unnoticed by the others.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm the getting alonginest pony your ever gonna meet." The farm girl stated back while trying not to get this argument out of hand.

"That's not even a word." The purple/white one countered.

"This is gonna be the best-est slumber party ever! YAY!" Twilight, who was too busy with her book to notice the squabbling, shouted after rejoining the two and put them in a group hug.

"Yay." The two said only not as enthusiastically as their friend.

'Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun.' The human thought and knew that this slumber party idea was going to go from bad to worse. Even though he was having flashbacks of his girl persona Ash stayed for the curling.

"So, how are you getting along over there, Applejack?" Rarity questioned with a bit of smugness in her tone. The three had their manes and their tails in rollers.

"Just fine, Rarity." AJ answered back and wondered if it would be in bad taste if she tail smacked her fellow element in the face.

"This is so fun. Make-overs - check." Twilight said before doing away with the rollers which was okay by the other two. "Ooh! It says here we have to tell ghost stories. Who wants to go first." She informed the three which Ash was all for it, but thought again.

'Hold on. If I tell them one of my main adventures it will really give them nightmares.' He thought when wanting to tell them of Team Galaxy's plan and their alliance with the cruel Hunter J, so the human remained silent.

"ME!" Applejack shouted before going on with her plan, "I'd like to tell yall the terrifying tale of the prissy ghost who drove every-pony crazy with her unnecessary neatness. I'm sure yall are familiar with that one." The pony informed them with an added, Oooo, for effect.

"Never heard of it, but I have a much better one. It's the horrifying story of the messy inconsiderate, ghost who irritated every-pony within a hundred miles." Rarity countered since she already knew what her friend was trying to do.

"That's not a real story. You made it up." Applejack commented back since she knew who the white pony was talking about.

"It's a ghost story - they're all made up." R countered back, but before anything could start between them the lights turned off.

"I've got one." Twilight informed after turning on a lantern of fireflies, and stood between the two bickering buddies. "This story is called - the Legend of the Headless Horse." She informed them and began to spin her yarn to her three guests. "It was a dark and stormy night just like this one. Three ponies and a monkey were having a slumber party just…like…this one." She started to speak, and as the tale continued all three were becoming a bit frightened. "And just when the last of them thought they were safe there standing right behind her, just inches away was…the Headless Horse!" Twilight shouted before turning off the lantern and put a cover her head.

'The lady is good.' Ash thought as he felt both other ponies cower behind him out of safety. When they poked their heads out from over his shoulders TS revealed herself from the blanket, and knew it was a sucsess.

"Ghost story - check." Twilight informed after checking that from her to do list. The two noticed that they were near one another, so they quickly parted and stood to either side of the monster tamer.

'I hate being the man in the middle.' Ash thought as he looked over to both of the bickerers.

"Now, who wants smores?" The happiest of the three sang to the guests which did sound good. Ash gathered the materials, and using the indoor fireplace they got started.

"Place one marshmallow on top of the chocolate: make sure it's centered - that's critical, and place another perfectly square gram cracker on the top, and done. Ta-Da." Rarity explained as she showed the steps to the novice of slumber party while Ash and Applejack provided the cooked marshmallows.

"Oooh." Twilight stated in awe at the piece of food before her, but the farm girl was not all that impressed.

"Nah. Ya just eat em." AJ informed before scarfing down the piece of food which was followed by a burp.

"You could at least say 'excuse me'." Rarity commented after the belch was made.

"Oh, I was just about to, but your interrupted me. Pardon." Applejack explained and stated to the fussy one. She only rolled her eyes at the comment because she knew that it was somewhat sarcastic jab at her comment.

"Smores - check. Now the next item of fun we have to do is: truth or dare." The studious one stated after making another check in her book, and then looked at her party guests.

"I dare Applejack to do something carefully and neatly for a change." The fashion expert stated as soon as she heard the game.

"Oh yeah?! Well, I dare Rarity to lighten up and stop obsessing over last little detail. For a change." The hard worker commented back.

"I think the truth of the matter is that some-pony could pay a little more attention to detail." The white/purple one commented back.

"Well, I think the truth is that some-pony ought to quit with her fussing so the rest of us can get things done." The orange/blonde one commented back. Ash knew that things were going to get ugly soon, but before he could play referee the pure purple one did it for him.

"Um, I don't think this is how the game is supposed to work." The student of Celestia informed before looking at her book and added, "You have to give an honest answer to any question or do what ever any-pony dares you to do." After finding the rules and said them aloud.

"I dares you to step outside and let your presious tidy mane get ruined again." AJ challenged as soon as she heard the rules which caused the victim to gasp in alarm.

"Sorry, Rarity, but rules are rules." Ash informed after glancing at the rules, and saw that the bucker got the designer dead to rights.

"Fine." Rarity shouted before walking outside and allowed her mane to get soaked. Ash that was going on Ash glanced over and saw that the one who issued the challenge was enjoying the suffering a bit too much with her stiffiled laughter.

"Okay. I dare Applejack to play dress-up. In a froo froo, glittery, lacey outfit." The soaked heroine challenged back which caused a gasp from the country girl. She followed the rules and borrowed Twilight's fancy suit, and went back to the others.

"Happy?" AJ questioned with her voice truly showing just how angry she was at the time.

"Very." R answered back feeling pretty proud of herself. Ketchum had a got feeling that this was going to get worse.

"Do we ever get a turn?" Twilight offered in a quiet tone. The two ignored her and made dares involving the rodeo, and mane maintains.

"Better call this one off before they pull out the big guns." Ash whispered to the hostess who nodded in agreement.

"I think we're going to check off truth or dare and move on. Let's see what our next fun, fun, fun thing is - shall we." Twilight said as she enchanted the book, and sent it over to her. "Hmm, what does this mean - pillow fight?" She questioned after reading the next part of the to do list, and looked at the fighter who only shrugged in confusion since he's never been in anything called that before.

"Oh, please, I am not at all interested in participating in something so crude." Generosity stated before getting a pillow to the face, and knew who dare strike her. "IT. IS. ON!" She stated before taking the pillow and returned fire.

'Grateful to get out of that dress.' AJ thought before going with a real counter by hind bucking three pillows. Those were sent back to her with front bucking which let to lassoing and throwing which was answered by magic.

"Oh, I get it. Pillow. Fight. Fun!" Twilight said as she stood in the middle of the battle and then got slammed by three pieces of their ammunition.

"Perhaps you two can pull back on the force." Ash offered since those strikes did seem painful.

"I will if she will." AJ stated while dodging fire.

"She started it." R stated back as she evaded fire from her foe.

"Maybe we should call it a night and get some sleep." Twilight offered after getting herself free from the pillows she was buried under. With that Ash helped in building the back-up bed for the two guests, and when confronted of where he was going to rest the trainer answered:

"I always carry a sleeping bag with me." After saying that he unrolled in beside Twilight's bed and went to sleep. As half of the group slept the other half were still having issues.

"Keep your muddy hooves on your side of the bed." Rarity commented as she tried to sleep on the right side of the bed.

"My hooves aint muddy." Applejack comment back, and could not believe that she was still on that kick.

"They were. There might still be a little on them." R said back angrily. This caused the bed mate to get up close and counter it.

"There aint. See?" AJ offered by showing off one of her hooves to the fussy one.

"Ew!" She shouted back before taking the cover and yanked it off of her friend.

"Now, who's being inconsiderate." The worker stated before pulling the cover onto her and left her friend with nothing which didn't go over well.

"I have to make the bed again so the blanket will be right. Get up." The perfectionist stated after head butting her fellow element off the bed and then enchanted the cover until it was perfect.

'Whatever. I'm going back to bed.' Honest thought and was about to reach for the cover with her mouth, but was cut off.

"Uh, uh, uh. You'll ruin it. You have to do it like this." Generosity instructed and demonstrated a crawling method to get under the cover which didn't go over well.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Geronimo!" The worker informed and shouted before jumping on the bed causing the glamour expert to crash off and the cover to cradle her. "Ah!" AJ said out of contentment over what she had just done.

"You did that on purpose." Rarity accused and was confirmed when she replied with a 'yeah'. "Get up so I can fix it again." She instructed since she did not wish to rest in an uneven bed.

"Can't hear you. I'm asleep." AJ answered back and made fake snoring sounds which was answered by the other removing the cover from her. "I aint budgin." She informed and stayed in her lying pose.

"You will if you want this blanket." R informed back, but her bargaining chip was yanked from her mouth by her current opponent. This started a tug-of-war match between the two that finally woke up the hostess.

"Enough! It says right here that the number one thing you have to do at a slumber party is have fun, and thanks to you two. I can't check that off." Twilight informed by showing the book to them which they saw what she meant.

'Guess with all the arguing I've been a part of or listened to makes me more tolerable to this.' Ash thought as he calmly sat up and decided to watch the show.

"I've been tryin my darndest to get along." Applejack informed while pointing an accusing hoof at the girl before her.

"No, it is I who have been trying my best." Rarity answered back while informed the other the proper way of saying her sentence. This started another challenge between the two which was cut off by the sixth element.

"I hope your happy. Both of you. You've ruined my very first slumber party. The make-overs, the smores, truth or dare, the pillow fight. I mean is there anything else that can possibly go wrong." TS informed and challenged.

'Open mouth inset hoof.' Ash thought since he knew that was one thing you never want to say when you are having a bad day.

"Sorry I asked." Magic said as she hid beneath her cover as a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree. The four rushed to the bedroom window and saw that the top section of a neighboring tree was about to fall on a house.

'Better get to work.' Ash thought as he reached for his belt, but there was nothing there. 'Right, I gave the others the day off.' Ash recalled and tried to come up with a backup plan, but listened to the worker's comment:

"Ya see. That's why we needed to take all those loose branches around town. Not spiffy `em up. Now, stand aside, missy, I've got a job to do." AJ said as she ignored what her friend had to say, grab the rope she had in her hat, and went to work.

"Wait. Applejack, bad idea." Ash warned her, but she didn't even listen to him since she was certain her plan was going to work.

"Now that my friends is what we call: gettin er done." Applejack informed before yanking on the rope toward her. In that instance Ash shielded the other two as the upper half came crashing into the window.

"I tried to warn you that it would come crashing down in here." R informed after getting out from under Ash, the tree, and used a book to protect her mane from the rain water that was coming through the open window.

"Well you shoulda tried harder." The lasso expert informed back after climbing the rope to get to the others. She saw Ash and a somewhat dazed Twilight come out from under the tree. "I'm mighty sorry, Twilight." She confessed since she did not want this to happen.

"It's…well…it's not okay. There's a giant tree branch in the middle of my bedroom, and the book doesn't mention anything about having a giant tree branch at your slumber party. Or at least I haven't found that entry yet." TS stated as she went back to the book and sifted through the pages.

"What in tarnation are yall doin over there?" AJ stated since she recalled R messing with the little things.

"Cleaning up the mess some-pony made. Who was that again, oh, that's right - you." R stated back as she put away a book. Ash couldn't believe that they were still at it, so he decided to give them a little nudge of teamwork.

"Enough. Like Twilight, I've had to deal with your senseless bickering for a while, and I've had it. You two are friends and Elements of Harmony. Not to mention this is a job that neither of you can do on your own." Ash informed after wading through the tree to get between the two.

"It aint nothin I can handle." Honesty informed as she did her best to buck it, and step on it with little to no result. "Okay, your right. I can't do it by myself." She confessed after going over to the other two.

"Glad to hear that you can admit that. As for you Rarity, you need to stop worrying about that little mess, and deal with the tree limb." Ash instructed to the young one beside him before adding, "Applejack could really use your help." This got her attention.

"He's right. I'm sorry. Your guys attention to detail could have saved us from this mess." AJ said back which caused the beauty girl to consider helping, but stopped when she saw the wet earth that came in with the tree.

"But I'll get all icky." She said up to Ash.

"It's true that doing hard work, and getting messy go hand in hand, but you really have to understand that this job needs teamwork, and since I gave my creatures the day off it's up to you two." Ash said as he could hear Twilight go under the 'B' in her index, but with zero success.

'I'm still not sure.' She thought with doubt before listening to Ash again.

"Ok, try this then. You've faced Nightmare Moon with zero fear, but your telling me that your willing to let a piece of lumber call the shots." Ash offered to her, and after hearing it like that she did sound like a wuss.

"Let's do this." Rarity said as she joined her friend in the tree to come up with a plan.

"Well, they do have a section about backyard slumber parties. Is that what we're doing right now? Is this considered camping?" Twilight stated and questioned since she wanted this to still be considered a slumber party.

'I can do this. I can do this.' Rarity thought as she transformed most of the fallen tree into several tiny topiary pieces, but that still left the base of the fallen tree. AJ was about to buck it away before catching her, now muddy, friend's angered expression.

'I guess doing it the easy way just this once won't hurt.' Applejack thought as she took the limb from the remaining piece into her mouth, and gently tossed it outside which got a smile from her friend.

'I'll take care of the rest.' Ash thought as he closed the window, but after that was over R finally saw that she was muddy.

"I look awful." Generosity informed after taking a look of herself. Honesty thought of what to do, but saw the Aura warrior offer her a couple of slices of cucomber which he swiped from the kitchen when he got the smore supplies.

"Better?" AJ questioned after taking the pieces and put them on her friend's eyes. This earned her another smile from her fussy friend.

"Thanks." She answered back which the two hugged soon after that. Throughout that whole mess the studious one was still looking through her book for what to do, and when she took a break from that Twilight was greeted with the sight of the tiny topiary treats.

"Oh, pretty. Where di these come from? They're not in the book either." Twilight said as she looked up from the book, but quickly went back to scanning the words. After a bit of clean up the four were finally enjoying themselves with TS and R in curlers while AJ and AK were as they should be.

"Is it bigger than a barn?" Honesty questioned the human of what it could be.

"Nope." AK answered back.

"Is it smaller than a saddle?" Generosity offered.

"No, and only three of your twenty questions left." He answered back after a chuckle.

"We're never gonna guess what your thinking of. It could be anything." AJ stated since she knew that much to be true about her friend.

"Are we getting warmer?" R questioned and prayed that they were.

"Why, is it too cold in here for you. I could turn up the heat." Twilight offered as she sat in between her friends.

"She means is we getting any closer with our guesses." The farm girl clarified of what the beautician was talking about. The spell-caster felt sheepish that she did not know that, but none of them held it against her.

"No, and that did sort of count as one of your questions, so only two more to go." Ash stated which got the two to really try to think of what he is thinking about. The two decided to share the last two guesses as one, and pray they get it right:

"Is it…a six legged pony with a purple polkadot mane with shooting stars coming out of its eyes." AJ offered first and then left her partner to pick it up from there.

"Who flies all over the world to hide magical eggs of leaves, fire, and water." R offered with both of them having big smiles since they believed to have finally got it.

"That's it!" Ash shouted out happily.

"It is?!" The two answered back in shock.

"No. It was actually my first six: Pikachu, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Bulbasaur, Charizard, and Squirtle. But a applaud you two on your creativity." Ash said with a smile which made the two feel happy as well. "Truth is it was good to see you gals getting along that I wanted you two to win together." Ketchum added while rubbing the back of his neck out of embarrasment.

"See, we could have been having fun like this all along." The hostess informed them which the two did realize that what she said was true.

"If only some pony wasn't so persnickety." AJ said while looking at the white/purple one.

"Well, maybe she wouldn't have been if some-pony wasn't so sloppy." The white/purple one said to the orange/blonde one. The two glared, but it was a softer glare than before.

"Sorry for being such a pain the patootie." AJ offered her apology.

"Oh no, I'm sure I was much worse." R replied back.

"That's kind of you to say, but I'm the one who's sorry." The farm girl said back.

"Oh I'm much more sorry than you are." The fashion designer replied back. The two went with an 'are not/are too' bit, but more light hearted this time.

"I declare my first slumber party a success." Twilight said and the two cheered for her saying that and then she added, "Have fun - check." The four chuckled some more before having a two on one pillow fight with AJ providing the throwing power and R providing the means to get the pillows before AK could grab them. As they were doing that Twilight wrote her mentor a letter:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

It's hard to believe that two ponies that seem to have so little in common could ever get along, but I found out that if you embrass each other's differences you might just be surprised to be friends after all.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

"So, who's up for another slumber party tomorrow night?" TS questioned after finishing the letter and received a couple of pillows to the face. "How about a week from Thursday? Oh, how about two weeks from Saturday? A month from now?" She questioned and with that all four laughed about their happy time together. Outside their happy mood was granted by the parting of clouds and the sun beaming down on them.


	10. Chapter 10

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 9

Bridle Gossip

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville and Ash, Pikachu, Twilight, and Spike were enjoying it by walking around town. "Rainbow Dash must have gotten up early for once and cleared all the clouds away." Spike said as he rode on his sister's back while looking up at the clear sky.

"I'm sure that all of Ponyville will be out enjoying the sunshine." Ash said as he walked along side the studious one. When they got into town the four were not greeted by any-pony.

"What? Where is every-pony?" Twilight questioned when she saw the deserted streets before her. After seeing a couple of ponies take shelter in their homes the four walked around on high alert.

"Is it some sort of pony holiday?" The voltage one questioned as he looked around and could not see or hear anyone around.

"Not that I know of." TS said back and the three others believed her since she knows of every holiday ever conceived for this world.

"Does my breath stink?" The young dragon questioned before belching a small flame and took a whiff of it.

"Not more than usual." The sister said back as they continued to walk around town. Spike thought of everything, but after looking up at Ash he knew what it could be.

"Is it zombies?" The baby dragon offered to the group which none of them believed that to be the case.

"Uh, not very likely." The student stated back since she did not believe in such beasts.

"Not likely, but possible." Spike stated back to her with his fear getting the better of him. Ash saw this and decided to say something about that.

"Spike, don't worry. Nothing badly happen while I am by your side." Ash told him with a smile. The dragon felt better, but not convinced.

"Psst." A voice called out causing all to stop and look around. "Twilight, Spike, Ash, Pikachu come here. Hurry, before she gets you." Pinkie whispered/shouted causing them to do just that.

"Who, the zombie-pony?" Spike questioned while putting a vice grip on TS neck.

"Zombie pony?" PP questioned back with growing fear in her voice.

"Spike, there are no zombie ponies." The student assured the scribe that his fear was meaningless.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here in the dark." Ketchum questioned and even though he knew the pony was random this was strange even for her.

"I'm not alone in the dark." She answered back and dimmed the light a bit brighter in the Sugar Cube Corner which revealed the rest of the elements and one kid sister around them.

'You knew, didn't you?" Ash whispered to his partner since he knew the rodent's ears wouldn't miss much even if he tried. Pikachu's response was an innocent whistle which the human ignored, and focused on the current mystery.

"Okay then, what are you all doing here in the dark." Twilight questioned as she looked at her friends, and was a little weirded out at the gathering around her.

"We're hidin` from her." Honesty informed while pointing out the window. This caused them all to look out the window and saw a hooded, hooved creature digging at one spot in the ground and then turned to face the eyes it felt which most hid from the returned gaze.

"Did you guys see her? Did you see, Zecora?" Applebloom asked while using Spike as a boost to look the sixth element right in the face.

"Applebloom, I told you never to say that name." The elder sister ordered to her younger since she recalled telling all in the small group never to say the 'Z' word.

"Well, I did see her glance this way…" Twilight started to say, but was cut off by the cake maker.

"Glance evilly this way." Pinkie Pie said while saying 'evilly' in a dramatic style.

"And then almost all of you cower for no good reason." Ash carried on where his friend left off. Honesty felt offended by his statement, and decided to tell the new hiders why they were hiding.

"No good reason?! You call protecting your kin - no good reason. Why, as soon as my sister saw Zecora riding into town: she started shaking in her little horseshoes." The farm girl explained while shaking the girl in question to prove her point.

"Did not." AB sounded out through her shaking.

"So, I swept her up and brought her hear." AJ finished her little tale.

"I walked here myself." The youngster stated, and the four could believe that since she was the only one in the group - not freaking out.

"For safety." Applejack counter commented.

"Applejack, I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself." Applebloom commented back after getting off of her sister's back and stared at her right in the eye.

"Not around that creepy Zecora." The elder of the two stated back which caused the others to voice why the others feared her.

"She's mysterious." Fluttershy informed in her usual tone.

"Sinister." Rainbow Dash added while staying in the air to emphasize her point.

"And Spooooky." Pinkie Pie informed them, but the trainer and the student did not believe them, and returned to looking at the new girl; the others did as well and almost pressed the two into the glass.

"Will you cut that out?" Twilight stated to the others after Zecora took off her hood, and her friends gasped in alarm.

"Would you look at those stripes - so garish." The fashion expert commented since she believed that was the new girl's sense of fashion, and nothing more.

"She's a zebra." TS informed them which caused a group 'what' in confusion since none of them have heard of one of those before. Even Ash has never encountered a zebra-like Pok`emon in his travels. "A zebra, and her stripes aren't a fashion choice, Rarity, they are what she was born with." The student informed them which caused the fashion designer to gasp and collapse on the floor.

"Born where? I've never seen a pony like that in these parts…except her." AJ questioned and commented while shaking in fear for a bit.

"Well, she's probably not from here, and she's not a pony. My book says that zebras come from a far away land, but I've never seen her in Ponyville. Where does she live?" Magic informed and asked her fellow elements for more information.

"That's just it. She lives in - the Everfree Forest." Honesty answered her friend and was even more scared of bringing up that location. There was suddenly a cloud clatter come from the kitchen.

"Spike!" The sister figure said to her younger brother figure since she did not see him in the room with them.

"Uh, sorry." He answered back through the doors and went back to snacking.

"The Everfree forest just aint natural. The plants grow." AJ started to speak of the location.

"Animals take care of themselves." FS stated and did not like that one little bit.

"And the clouds move…" RD stated and the last comment was a group effort.

"All on their own." AJ, RD, and FS said as one for emphesize. This caused R to gasp dramatically again and collapse again.

"No offense, but didn't we all learn that when we had to go into the Everfree Forest to get your guys' Elements of Harmony." Ash stated to the others, and remembered that day causing them to realize that they should already know that much.

"And that evil Zecora lives there doing her evil…stuff. She's so evil I've even wrote a song about her." PP informed them.

"Here we go." The weather controller stated since she had been singing this all day in their hiding spot. Ketchum simply walked to the stairs and sat down - ready to listen to this argument.

"She's an evil enchantress. She does evil dances, and if you look deep in her eyes she'll put you in trances." Pinkie started singing her song which was started to really scare Applejack who was clutching onto her sister for dear life.

'Get off me.' Applebloom thought while trying to pull herself free which se was able to do so. This only caused her elder sister to shake in place out of fear as he friend continued to sing.

"So watch out!" Pinkie shouted out as she finished her song.

"Wow, catchy." The sixth pony commented hearing the whole thing.

"It's a work in progress." The pink one answered back.

"This is all a bunch of gossip and rumors. How about you tell us exactly what you guys seen Zecora do?" Ash questioned while still sitting on the stairs.

"Well…once a month she comes into Ponyville." RD started to explain causing TS to gasp in sarcastic alarm.

"Then she lurkes by the stores." R informed next causing another fake gasp from the non believer.

"And then she digs at the ground." FS informed after that with the same result from her friend.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but how is any of this bad? Maybe she comes to town to visit." Twilight offered to them and had one supporter.

"Yeah, maybe she's just tryin to be neighborly." AB informed them as she backed up Twilight's point of view.

"And maybe she's not lurking by the stores maybe she's going to them - lurk free, to do some shopping." Magic offered to the others.

"Yeah. Every-pony likes to shop. You know what I think…" AB stated, but was cut off by her elder.

"Applebloom, hush and let the big ponies talk." AJ instructed and shooed her away.

"I am a big pony." The youngster stated back before walking over to the door.

"What about digging at the ground? You've got to admit - that's weird." The speedster questioned and commented since she could see those first two comments of her, but that still left the digging.

"What if she's digging for innocent creatures?" The animal whisperer questioned back to her fellow flyer.

"I'm sure there's a logical explanation for everything Zecora does, and if any-pony here was brave enough to aproch her she will find out the truth." Twilight explained to the others which gave the youngest an idea.

"Well, I'm brave enough. I'm gonna find out myself." Applebloom said and walked right out the door.

"Pikachu, go with her." Ash whispered when the two of them saw the little pony walk out of the building. He saluted, and was off to follow her. The rodent got to the little filly and tapped her on the shoulder which gave her a start, but the voltage one clamped one hand over her mouth.

"Shh, you want her to know that she's being tailed." Pikachu whispered and after calming down a bit the two followed her while trying to remain out of sight. The two stayed with her even when she left town.

'Don't they realize that this is getting them no where.' Ash thought as he sat and listened to the whole thing, and they were still going at it.

"You ponies are being ridiculous." TS stated in aggrivation.

"Well, I heard Zecora eats hay." PP informed her now knowing that she was grasping at straws for reasons not to trust the zebra.

"Pinkie, I eat hay. You eat hay." The student informed while pointing a hoof at herself and then at her friend.

"Yeah, but I heard it's the evil way she eats hay." The party animal countered which got one of them thinking - that they were short one Zecora supporter.

"Hey, where's Applebloom?" The elder sister of the missing girl questioned while looking around. They all saw that Ketchum was pointing at something, and after following his finger they saw what he wanted them to see.

"The door's open." The caretaker of the animals informed after seeing what the human was pointing at.

"She went outside." The designer of clothing shouted in alarm.

"And Zecora is still out there." The weather manipulator informed them which got the sister worried.

"That silly, little filly I told her to stay put." The bucker informed the others before the five of them headed out the door.

"Spike, you stay here in case Applebloom comes back." The magic user explained before following them with Ash bringing up the rear.

"Will do." The dragon responded with a pot on his head and a pan in his claw and a salute with his free hand. Outside of town the four continued to follow her until she got to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest.

'I can do this.' The youngling thought as she put on a brave front and ran on it. The mouse beside her raced in regardless since he had been with Ash so long he knew how to embrace danger no matter what form it comes in.

'Hmm, I wonder why she's avoiding these blue flowers.' Pikachu wondered as they continued to follow her.

"Applebloom, you get back here - right now." AJ said as the seven caught up with them easily.

"Beware! Beware you pony-folk. Those leaves of blue are not a joke." Zecora explained to them in rhyme as she backed into a creeping mist.

"You keep your creepy mumbo jumbo to yourself, ya hear." The bucker said as she rushed through some of those blue flowers to pick up her sister, and Ash to his old friend. Three others started shouting at the zebra while the other three remained silent.

"Oh, brother." TS said as she still could not believe how her friends were acting. The disappearing one said 'beware' two more times even though the others would not listen to her.

"Yeah, back at ya, Zecora! You and your lame curse are the ones who better beware." RD shouted back to put up a brave front.

"And you. Why couldn't you listen to your big sister." AJ ordered to AB who tried to explain herself, but was cut off, "Who knows what kind of curse Zecora cut put on you and Pikachu." She informed the young one.

"Just like in my song." PP informed before seeing her song while frolicking in the blue flowers they all stood in.

"You guys there's no such things as curses." TS insisted on to the rest of her friends.

"Well, that's interesting to hear coming from Miss Magic-pants herself." The speedster said while flying through the flowers and tapping her friend's horn with her hoof.

"My magic, real magic, comes from within. It's a skill your born with. Curses are artifical: fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations. All smoke and mirriors meant to scare, but curses have no real power. They're just an old pony-tale." Magic informed the other elements and trainer, but saw that most of them were walking away.

"Just you wait, Twilight. You're gonna learn that some pony-tales really are true." Honesty informed her friend while following the others out of the forest.

'Doesn't she already know that much with our fight with Nightmare Moon?' Ash thought as he once again brought up the rear on the way home. The group slumbered and tried to forget what happened with Zecora.

"What a dream. Curses, shmerses." Twilight said as she got out of bed and walked to her mirror. "Whoa. Maybe Zecora cursed my horn." She said after seeing her bed head, but after a few brush strokes she saw something - wrong. "Or she cursed my horn." TS said in alarm as she saw the blue spotted limp body part on her head.

"I better see how Twilight is doing." Ash said since her friends did give her the third degree of her belief that the zebra was harmless. The trainer got out bed and headed to the library, but not without arousing suspicion.

"Was that?" Pikachu questioned the others as they all saw the 'human' leave the house.

"Afraid so." Tauros said back and wondered if the others were affected the same way, or more importantly his lasso throwing chum. As the trainer journeyed to the library the girl in question was busy looking through her books for a cure of some sort.

"No, no, no, no, no! None of these books have a cure! Ugh! There has to be a real reason for this. An illness? An allergy?!" Twilight said as she looked through all of her books with zero success.

"A curse." The dragon said as he looked at one of the few books that the unicorn did not look at.

"I said a real reason. Something that points to something real." TS explained to the baby dragon before her.

"How about this?" He offered while showing the cover of the book he was looking at.

"Supernaturals?" She questioned after reading the first word of the title of the book. She immediately decided to dismiss his offer after just the first word.

"Spike, the word: supernatural referrs to things like spirits and zombies. Which are as make-believe as curses. This book is just a bunch of hooey." She said to him and wanted to add ghosts, but she felt that would be an insult to Haunter since he was real.

"But if your wrong, Twilight? What if this really is a-." The dragon started to questioned but was interrupted by Laughter. "A purse? How could it be a purse?" He asked the pink one who had a blue spotted tongue sticking out of her mouth.

"Pinkie, what happened?" Magic asked Laughter with a concerned tone. She tried to explain, but with the way her tongue was neither of them understood her.

"Say it, don't spray it, Pinkie." Spike said as he shook away her spit. There was a loud crash from outside causing all to look at a window.

"She's…trying to say, ow, Zecora, ugh, she slapped us all with a, ow, curse!" Rainbow Dash explained after running into the window, wall, slammed through the door, and got tangled in a ladder.

"I'm afraid I have to agree." Rarity said to them, but when the group turned to face her they were met with a white/purple hairball which scared the two at first glance.

"I hate say I told you so, Twilight, but I told ya so." Applejack said as she stood on her little sister's rump. TS scanned around and saw that most of her friends were transformed, but did notice that Kindness seemed fine.

"But Fluttershy seems just fine." TS informed them, and the others could see that as well. They did notice, however, that she seemed a bit more quiet than normal.

"Yes, there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with her." The long haired pony commend as she could see the still perfect silent one through her hair. The field leader of the six still sensed that the quiet one was hiding something.

"Fluttershy, are you okay?" The purple pony questioned the cream/pink one who only looked away. "Is there something wrong with you?" She asked and received a nod as an answer. "Would you care to tell us?" The student questioned since she would like a vocal answer. "So, your not going to tell us?" She questioned and received another nod. "Yes you are or yes your not?" TS questioned and received a 'no' shake for a response.

"Good gravy, girl, what's wrong with you." The tiny one demanded after getting off of her sister to the centerpiece of the room, and got as close as she could to the quiet one.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Fluttershy answered and felt bad that her friends had to hear her very deep voice.

"Well, at least Ash is okay?" Spike questioned while trying to hold back his laughter. It was at that moment another hoofed creature walked in.

"I can see that you guys are having a bad day." Ash said to them, but none of them recognized him. "Is there something on my face?" Ash asked them when he was receiving weird looks.

"Ash, if that's you then you probably don't want to look at the mirror." The owner of the library commented causing the hero to look at her confused, but decided to disobey her.

"What? What are you talking about?" AK questioned before looking at the item he was told not to look at. "What! I'm a zebra!" The tamer of monsters shouted before adding, "I'm a multi-colored zebra." The others could see that as well with his: green hooves, red/orange eyes, sea blue stripes with his white body, along with a yellow mane/tail. It was then the dragon started cracking up.

"This is hilarious! Look at all of you. We have: Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Appletini, Flutterguy, and, uh, I got nothin." Spike started to speak, but lost his momentum when he came to the last two affected creatures. "Twilight Sparkle and Ash Ketchum, I mean seriously I can't even work with that." The dragon commented to the others.

"This is no joke, Spike. Now, start looking for more books so I can find a cure." TS instructed to her assistant who was still trying not to laugh as he looked at the limp horn. He groaned at her order, but still followed through with it.

"I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place." RC said as she finally pulled herself free from the ladder, but still didn't seem to be able to fly straight.

"It's not a curse!" TS shouted causing her friend to slam into another wall. The tiny one trotted over to the nay sayer and decided to set her straight.

"I agree with Dash. We'll go to Zecora and force her to remove this hex." AT said whit a small hoof stomp to make her point.

"It's not a hex either." TS shouted out, and with that another five way argument began. The young one was watching this and felt awful since this was her fault.

"This is all my fault. If I hadn't followed Zecora in the first place none of this would have happened. I just gotta fix this." The little sister as the elements were arguing with one another.

"Now, where does she think she's goin this time." AT questioned before hopping over to her, and then hid in her tail.

'Little sis trying to make things right. Good call.' AK thought as he watched the little one walk off, and wanted to follow, but decided to wait and see if any of them will notice the disappearance.

"I don't care what you say, Twilight. It's time to pony-up and confront Zecora. Come on girls, are you with me?" The clumsy speedster stated and questioned to the others which got a slurred answer from the party animal.

"And I as well." The hairball explained.

"I don't know. Seems awfully dangerous." FG said which caused the dragon to laugh again.

"What about you, Applejack." RC said while looking at the center table, but saw no one there. They all became alarmed when they couldn't see the ant sized Applejack anymore.

"Or some-pony stepped on her." Hairity shouted while looking at her hooves which the others did as well. TS face grew with fright when another idea struck her.

"Or sat on her?" The student offered to them causing the girls to all try to look at their rumps with little success.

"Rarity's hair?" RC shouted since she believed the tiny one could have gotten lost in that jungle. SP tried looking through it, with some protest from the owner of the hair, but came up dry.

"Will you five relax. Applejack hitched a ride on Applebloom since the young one blames herself for what has happened to us." Ash said to them in a calm tone, but sadly they took it the wrong way.

"Then we better go after them. Come on, guys, let's move." Twilight said and headed to her doorway. The fuzzy one was about to follow, but for some reason she felt tied down. Spitty saw that she was still standing on a strand of hair so she released it which caused her friend to tumble after the spell caster.

"Hey, a little help here." Rainbow shouted as she tried to fly upside down, but her head would not leave the ground.

"Oopsie. Sorry." The quiet one with a deep voice and the sprinkler picked up their friend who then tried to fly to the door, but slammed into the section of wall on top of it.

"Ow!" The blue one shouted before sporting an embarrassed smile, and then flew out the door.

"Uh, Spike, are you coming?" Flutterguy questioned to the dragon that now seemed to be reading something.

"Nope, uh, got to stay here and look for a clue." Spike said and when the three left he went on thinking of funny nicknames for the other two. As they tried to catch up with their friends Ash couldn't but think he saw something bright yellow and circular on the side of his leg; he knew the mission came first, so he shrugged it off and carried on.

'I'm positive that Zecora's not a bad gal. She'll know what to do.' Applebloom thought as she galloped into the Everfree Forest. Right when she was making some real progress a voice called out to her.

"Stop right there!" The voice shouted causing the girl to do just that. "Turn around right now, missy." AT ordered after pushing herself to the top of her sister's mane.

"No." AB stated back to the tiny woman on her head which surprised the older sister.

"No? You can't ignore a direct order from your big sister." AT said before being flicked into the air, and being caught by her tail.

"Sorry, Applejack, but I'm the big sister now." AB informed her after placing the little thing on a tree branch, and walked away.

"Applebloom, you come back here right this instant." AT shouted but when she did not the sister tried another gambit. "I'm gonna tell Big Macintosh on you!" She shouted and then realized where she was. "Oh, corn-feathers." The farm girl muttered after seeing that there was no close-by ground to jump to on the branch she was on.

"Come on girls. We've got to get to Zecoras. Hurry!" Twilight informed them as the other elements just made it to the entrance of the forest.

"Easier said than done." Hairity stated after stumbling on her long hair again, but was able to keep up with them.

"Hey, wait for me." Rainbow Crash shouted to them before taking another detour into some thick brush. She kept crashing into things until a tree helped her to stop, and that was when the flyer found something strange in her mouth.

"Rainbow, thank Celestia. There's no time to lose." The tiny one shouted after getting out of her friend's mouth, and then made a make-shift reigns. "I need to get to Zecora's pronto." She shouted before slamming the mouth piece into her friend's mouth. "Get along little pony." She instructed to the flyer.

"Excuse me?!" The rain maker demanded, but a swift kick on her throat got her airborne. As the two hit a rough patch of trying to keep the flight steady the others hit a snag.

"Twilight, do you even know where Zecora's house is?" Ash questioned to the point pony who grinded to a halt.

"Actually I don't. Do any of you?" The student stated and questioned and received a collective 'no' as her answer. It was then Ketchum felt something, within his spirit.

"I think I might." AK informed and took point while simply walking, and then saw something. Hoof prints, prints that should not have been there, but seemed the earth was giving them hints. When they stopped the wind aided them as well until they finally found the home they were searching for.

"I look horrible." Generosity commented as she could barely see through the dirt and mud she had collected on their walk. After a slurred comment from Laughter, and aid of getting her bangs out of her eyes the fashion expert knew what she said. "Oh my! That place really does look horrible." She commented before moving forward with the others.

'Appearances aren't always everything.' Ash thought as he and the others peeked through a window.

"Nice decorations. If you're into creepy." The white/purple one commented as they took a look around. It was at that moment the female zebra came walking in, and after pouring something into a caldren she began to speak.

"She stole your song?" The fuzzy one questioned as she believed that was what the sprinkler said to them.

"Oh, Pinkie, it doesn't sound anything like your song." Magic commented, and after seeing that even Ash did not believe her Pie went to the only one that would help - after giving her a sad eyes expression.

"She's an evil enchantress. She does evil dances, and if you look into her eyes she will put you in trances. What will she do: she'll mix up an evil brew, and she'll gobble you up in a big, tasty stew. So, watch out." Flutterguy sang to them with SP miming every statement.

"You saw those terrible things. Now do you two believe us?" H questioned to where she could see her two friends. Ketchum was still skeptical whil Sparkle was actually changing her vote.

"Scary looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldren. Everything is pointing to Zecora being - bad." Twilight said as she took another look at the zebra's home and did not like it.

"Or maybe she's just making some soup?" Ash offered to them as he felt his stomach starting a slow hungry snarl since he did skip Breakfast.

"Mmm. The perfect temperature for ponies I presume. Now, where is that little Applebloom?" Zecora stated after lapping up a small sample of what was in that pot.

"Or…what if she's making Applebloom Soup?" TS questioned the monster tamer after hearing what the zebra just say. After hearing that the others began to scream aloud, and above them were two more members of their party.

"I'm coming Applebloom!" AT shouted before her aircraft slammed through the door and started wrecking the place.

"What have you done with Applebloom?" Twilight questioned after re-opening the door. Zecora tried to order the cause of the disturbance to stop, but she did not listen. The tiny one lassoed the herbalist's ear, and started wrestling with said ear.

"Okay, this is the part I can do without." Ash said as he raced past the girls to body check Rainbow Crash, but in doing so the trainer accidentally spilled what was in the big pot in the center of her room.

"No! You know not what you do. You've gone and spilled my precious brew." The female zebra said to them as she watched her mixture pour out of the big container and right onto the floor.

"We're onto you, Zecora. I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming." Twilight informed the curse bringer which got her attention, and decided to listen to the rest.

"You made me look ridiculous." Hairity commented first.

"You made me sound ridiculous." Flutterguy commented after her friend. Spitty Pie tried to comment, but once again no one really understood her.

"You ruined my horn!" The student of Celestia shouted out in anger.

'Actually, I don't mind my transformation.' Ash thought as he recalled his encounter with that potion maker who turned him into a Pikachu for a bit, so this wasn't that far off.

"How dare you! You destroy my home. Destroy my work! Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk." Zecora shouted back at them, and felt great aggrivation to the six around her.

"You put this curse on us. Now your gonna un-curse us." Rainbow shouted with the reigns still in her mouth.

"It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!" Zecora shouted at them as a fair warning not to push this issue any further.

"Where is Applebloom?" TS questioned before getting right in the shaman's face. As if on cue the filly that they were searching for spoke out.

"Zecora, I think I have all the things you asked for." The youngling stated as she looked at the side bags before seeing what her new friend's home was like. "What in Ponyville is going on here?" She questioned to the group before her.

"These six mainly jumped to the wrong conclusion without gathering all the facts." Ash informed the young one and recalled something similar happened when Team Rocket stole a rock and Nando got the blame, but the trainer had to respect how the bard was so level headed throughout the whole thing.

"Applebloom, your okay." The tiny sibling said after looking at the doorway, and saw the creature they were looking for.

"Why wouldn't I be?" AB questioned calmly.

"Because Zecora's an evil enchantress who cursed us, and was about to cook you into soup." The studious one said as she stood guard between Applebloom and Zecora. After hearing the reason for their anger the two of them just laughed.

"Oh, Twilight, did those silly fillies get in your head? You know there's no such thing as a curse." The youngest of the apple family pointed out to the book worm.

"Applebloom, sweetie, you can't just stand there and say this isn't a curse." Magic informed the sister of Honesty.

"This isn't a curse." AB replied calmly as she walked past those five, and over to her friend the witch doctor.

"If you'll remember back. The words I spoke were quite exact." Zecora informed and that was when the group thought of her first speech: 'Beware! Beware you pony folk. Those leaves of blue are not a joke.' That still didn't add up to the others.

"It was a warnin. About that blue plant: its called Poison Joke." AB explained to them before the zebra took over from there.

"That plant is much like Poison Oak, but it's results are like a joke." Z explained to them which only confused the tiny pony on her head.

"What in the hay does that mean?" AT questioned the lady she was standing on.

"It means this plant does not wreak wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh." The herbilist explained to the others, but that still didn't add up to the micro one.

"Will some-pony please talk normal." AT said to the others since all she wanted was a straight answer.

"She's saying that when we went to get Pikachu and Applebloom we walked right into the Poison Joke. All that has happened to us was just a few jokes it played on us." Ash explained to the others, and was not surprised in the least since he had seen weirder.

"Little jokes?! Very funny." The ant sized Applejack said now feeling offended by any words that had to deal with her current size.

"Okay, fine, but what about the cauldren?" RC questioned to the lady before her.

"And the chanting." FG questioned.

"And the creepy decore." H questioned as well, and they wanted to see how she was going to get out of those points.

"Treasures from the native land where I am from. This one speaks - hello, and this - welcome." Z explained while looking at a few toppled over masks.

"Not welcoming at all if you ask me." The fuzzy one said as she saw one sporting her long haired look.

"The words I chanted were from olden times. Something you call a nursery rhyme." The female zebra explained to them which was making them feel sheepish.

"But the cauldren? The Applebloom Soup?" TS questioned and wondered if she had an answer for that.

"Lookie here, Twilight. That pot a water wasn't for me. It was for all these herbal ingredients. The cure for Poison Joke is a simple all natural remedy." AB explained while pointing to the grocery list that was part of a book. "You've just got to take a bubble bath." She added while picking up her sister to make sure she was okay.

"But I've tried to find a cure in all of my books, and couldn't find anything. What book has this natural remedy?" TS questioned and the owner of the building was more than happy to answer.

"Here is the book you see. Sad that you lack it in your library." Zecora explained while closing the book, and showed the cover of it to the spell caster.

"Actually, I do have this book, but I didn't look inside because the title was so…weird." The librarian stated and saw that the book holder was pointing at something so she decided to see what it was. "Supernaturals - Natural remedies and cure alls that are simply super." TS said as she fully read the title and that's when she really felt bad. "I…I…I'm so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time. If only I bothered to look inside." She confessed to the Wicca before her.

"Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book." Z said to all of them which told them that she had no hard feelings over what just happened.

"So, now that that's taken care of - could you make up more of that herbal bath?" Ash questioned to her since he wanted them to learn this lesson without him explaining it. She looked at the fellow zebra and decided to answer him truthfully.

"Mixing it up. I certainly will yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville." Zecora said to the fellow zebra while carefully glancing at his build.

"But whenever Zecora comes to town all of the shops are mysteriously closed." AB explained to the group which one knew what to do.

"Oh, I think we can help you with that." Twilight stated, and with that the guy and gals headed into town. Back in town every-pony was enjoying the Zecora free moment, but that came to a crashing halt when one of them spotted something headed their way.

"Look, Rose, how awful." One of the ponies exclaimed.

"The wicked enchantress has cursed them all and made one her suitor." A red manned girl said as she spotted a male zebra by the cloaked one. The ecomancer was grateful for her hood due to the 's' word and the fact that the male beside her did seem appealing.

"The horror. The horror." One of the civilians shouted which caused all to hide out of fear. The group got to the store, and Twilight decided to talk to the owner since she was one of the few that remained normal throughout the ordeal.

"Daisy, we need to talk." TS said and explained it all to the girl on the other side of the door. After hearing the tale she was more than happy to help out, and give them whatever they needed.

"Looks like they've got an antidote." Bulbasaur stated as he, and others, watched them walk past their house.

"Yep." Tauros replied before catching a glimpse at the tiny thing on Pinkie's head. 'Is that…Applejack?' The wild bull thought with alarm.

"You better get to work." Pikachu said as he tossed the first Grass-type a pair of swim trunks which he caught and followed after them. At the local spa the group got into the largest tube and started to relax with Rainbow, Zecora, and Applebloom pouring in the cure.

'Good to be back to normal.' PP and TS thought as they checked their tongue and horn to see that they were back to normal. As the elements and Ash relaxed one of the spa workers decided to confront the herbalist.

"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxorious." A blue/pink pony stated, but before she could speak someone else spoke first.

"Applejack! Hey, where's Applejack?" AB said causing all in the pool to freak out, but a familiar voice put a stop to that.

"I'm right here, little sis. I aint tiny no more." AJ explained while sitting in a tiny version of their pool.

"I've never felt so lovely in all my life." Rarity said since she was grateful of being at her true hair length, and able to see everything clearly again.

"Oh my gosh! I never realized how horrible it was not being able to talk." Pinkie started to speak her joy of being able to speak again which easily got on Rainbow Dash's nerves. "It was the worse. Don't you agree, Fluttershy?" She stated and offered to Kindness.

"Yes." FS answered back and was grateful that her voice was back to the way it should be.

"Yep, everything's back to the way it's supposed to be, but I can't help but feel that there is something I'm forgetting." Ash offered to them as he rested his arms on the side of the tub.

'He still hasn't figured it out. Well, good thing he's got Pok`emon like me to keep him in line.' The plant creature thought as he walked in, and headed for the big tube. As soon as he got there the eldest of Grass creatures stretched a vine up to his partner.

"My swim trunks?" Ash questioned aloud when the item reached his face, so he glanced over his shoulder to see who was offering him a vine. "Bulbasaur, why do I need…" Ash began to ask, but stopped when reality sunk in. "Doop!" The monster tamer shouted before looking down and saw that he was in the buff.

'She does not need to see this.' Zecora thought as she moved a hoof to sheild the young one's eyes. The others saw this, looked at Ash, and felt the need to turn their backs to him.

'Better work fast.' Ash thougtht before grabbing the trunks, dove into the water, and put them on. "I'm good." He said after surfacing which made them a bit at ease. "Well, it was nice meeting you Zecora, but I got to run." Ketchum said as he swam to the ledge, climbed out, raced down the stairs, and raced out of the door.

'Smooth partner. Real smooth.' Bulbasaur thought as he gave chase. The girls spent a bit more time together before parting company as well - grateful that they didn't see anything since he acted too quickly for anything to sink in.

"Spike, take a letter." TS instructed which the dragon came up with the right name for her, but when he saw that she was fine the lizard forgot it, and wrote the note.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week. Never judge a book by it's cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary, but you need to look past that and see the being inside. Real friends don't care what your cover is. It's the contents of a pony that counts, and a good friend, like a good book is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

The note was sent off, but the student wondered if she should have added the Ash moment once he was human again, but decided against it. As for the human in question he had arrived at his home, and was feeling rather flushed.

"That was embarrassing. Good thing you guys had my back." The raven haired youth commented to the creatures around him. They appreciated his words, and smiled about them.

"I know that you don't really think about them, but what of the tickets?" The wild bull questioned the human as Ash made his way past the door, and over to his bed.

"If you mean do I know the next guest the answer is no. Why? Do you have any suggestions?" Ash questioned after sitting on his bed and looking at the bull in the room.

"Well…I was thinking me. Just to see if they can handle a bull of my caliber, and for no other reason." The horned male informed his trainer who raised an eyebrow about his reason.

"I suppose the princess would be okay with that." AK said before going over to where he had the tickets, and one of them floated right over to monster in question. With nothing better to do the human decided to finally eat since he was starving.


	11. Chapter 11

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations are from Hasbro

Chapter 10

Swarm of the century

It has been a couple of days since the Poison Joke incident, and all of Ponyville has accepted the Zebra as part of their community even though she still preferred to stay in the Everfree Forest. None of them realized that today was going to be a very bad day. 'I can help her with this.' A squirrel thought as he watched his caretaker gather flowers of various colors or shapes, so he grabbed the closest one and brought it to her.

"Thank you little squirrel, but remember these flowers are for Princess Celestia. Only the prettiest ones will do." Fluttershy informed the small, woodland creature after he got her attention.

"I'll look for something better." The squirrel said to her in his native tongue when a small breeze destroyed his dandelion causing him to flee, and find. Kindness sang a pleasant tune, but was startled when a rock moved on it's own causing her to hide behind a barrel of apples.

"Hello, little guy. I've never seen anything like you before." FS said as a strange blue pixie came out from behind the rock, and then flew to an apple. "Oh! Are you hungry?" She asked after seeing the creature sniff a stray apple, so she crushed it into apple sauce for it. "Here you go." She offered the smashed insides to the creature.

'So, these red things are food.' The creature thought and headed for the bigger supply of apples. Once there all of them were gone in just a couple of seconds.

"I guess you were hungry." She said after seeing the empty barrel, and then looked at the creature which was nestled in her mane. "You're the cutest thing ever. I can't wait to show you to my friends." She said and headed back into town not knowing of the plague she was about to unleash.

"Oh! Hurry up, Spike. This place isn't going to clean itself." Twilight said to her little brother.

"It also didn't mess itself up." The dragon muttered under his breath as he picked up three books.

"Princess Celestia will be here tomorrow." The student of the princess in question informed after hearing what he just said.

"I thought this was just an unofficial, casual visit." Spike stated back since he did not see the problem of taking it easy for once.

"There's nothing casual about a visit from royalty. I want this place to be spotless, and you've barely made a dent in the clutter." Magic informed the scaly one before her.

"Maybe you should start reading them one at a time." The purple/green one said back to her while trying to carry a stack of six up a ladder, but failed and fell.

"Everything's got to be perfect. No time for fooling around." The sister figure said while dusting the books on top of her friend.

"You know: this would be a lot easier if the two of us wasn't getting under each other's feet." The dragon explained to her, and prayed the young pony would get what he was saying, and offer to help more, but she did not.

"Great idea. You - clean while I see how everyone else's preparations are coming." TS said as she handed him the feather duster, and headed out the door.

"Or maybe I should." He tried to speak to her, but let out a groan of aggravation since she didn't listen, and close the door behind her. Much to her satisfaction the small town looked great, and very good in welcoming her teacher…until she got to the first banner.

'There, got it up.' Heracross thought as he and a pony pulled up the banner which the inspector began to read it, but something seemed off.

"What happened to the rest of her name?" Twilight questioned the pony to the right of her.

"We couldn't fit it all in." The carrot marked pony answered back, and prayed that she would understand.

"You can't hang up a banner that say: Welcome Princess Celest. Take it down and try again." TS responded before galloping off to check the rest of the prep work.

'Well, we better get to it.' The insect thought as he went to work of doing what she said while the other did not like that at all.

"That looks perfect. Keep up the good work." Twilight said to a pony and Squirtle as they watered some flowers surrounding a tree. The inspector decided to check on the sweet treats next. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How's the banquet coming?" She asked through the top half of the split door.

"Uh, it would be coming a bit better if…" The female baker began to explain herself to the inspector, but simply pointed to desserts and all of them were bitten into. She saw, and knew the culprit, after a two layer cake with chocolate/pink/white frosting, cherries on top, and a fake crown in the center of the top was devoured.

"Pinkie! What are you doing? Those sweets are supposed to be for the princess." The student said shouted at her fellow element while trying to keep her anger in check.

"I know. That's why I'm tasting them. Some-pony needs to make sure that everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue. And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a king or a queen or a princess." PP explained herself before moving onto another cake. TS saw this and was about to chew her out, but was stopped by the quiet one.

"Twilight, Pinkie, you won't believe." Fluttershy started to speak as she raced through the open door, but grinded to a halt as she feared she got in the middle of something. "Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, am I interrupting?" She asked calmly to the others.

"No, not at all. Come on in, and make yourself at home." PP said before changing her tongue to be like the creature Ash spoke of: Lickitung, slid it under the cake before her, and swallowed it in one gulp.

'Seriously? Again?' The purple one thought as she glared at the glutton beside her. The quiet one was unsure at first to show off her discovery, but it was so cute that she had to show someone.

"What's going on, Fluttershy?" The glutton questioned since she was expecting the animal lover to have taught the birds a new song for this day, but was greeted by something else.

"You won't believe what I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Come on out, little guy. It's okay." Kindness said to her mane causing a blue ball with green eyes to come out, but so did a yellow one and a brown one. "Three?" FS said in a confused tone.

"They're amazing. What are they?" Twilight questioned after trotting a bit closer to her friend so she could see those three a bit better.

"I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from." The animal caretaker informed her, and there was a small piece of her was worried about not knowing where the other two came from.

"I'll take one off your hooves. I've never seen anything so…adorable." TS said and snuggled the yellow one to her face with her front legs. "Besides it would be nice to have a companion for Spike, so that he won't bother me so much while I'm studying." Twilight explained after having a moment of weakness and blushed about it.

"Pinkie, do you want the other one?" Kindness questioned to Laughter in a friendly tone.

"Ugh! A parasprite? Are you kidding?" PP said after sticking her tongue out in disgust of that idea, and then walked off.

"Ugh?" FS questioned to her friend.

"A para-what?" TS questioned since she had never heard of such a word.

"How could you not like-." Fluttershy tried to reason, but was cut off.

"Now, I've got to go find a trombone." Pinkie Pie explained to them when she reached the doorway. The two were confused so she repeated herself, "A trombone. You know…" She imitated one, and headed off.

"Typical Pinkie." The purple one muttered after her friend left after an annoyed sigh. She then looked at her new friend and then headed out to her next spot.

"Stand still, Rainbow Dash." Rarity explained as she tried to put a classical outfit on her impatient friend.

"I can't! I need to fly! This is way to boring for me." RD said as she tried to fly off, but couldn't, so she stayed on the pedestal to explain herself.

"Do you want to look good for Princess Celestia, or not?" The fashion expert questioned to the speedster in a firm tone. After hearing the name of one of the royal sisters Loyalty reluctantly sat down.

"Wow, Rarity, those outfits are gorgeous." TS explained after entering the next stop on her inspection tour.

"Thank you, Twilight. Nice to know someone appreciates my talents." R replied back and meant it since she knew that the sixth meant it.

"Ugh! So bored!" The blue one groaned as she tried to stay awake, but was failing until she, and Rarity heard a noise coming from Twilight's mane. "What's that sound, Twilight?" She asked after looking at her friend from the air while the other inspected it from the front.

'No food here, but at least there are more suckers.' A pink creature from the mane thought before diving into the gold one from earlier, and a blue one.

"Wow! What are they?" The flyer questioned as she believed them to be one of the cutest things ever.

"The better question is: where did they come from? I only had one a minute ago." TS explained and a part of her began to worry, but the rest of her mind dismissed that fear.

"Uh, I'll take one." Rainbow Dash said as she scooped up the gold one, and cuddled it.

"Me too. Oh, they're perfect!" Rarity said as she was having a hard time to decide which of the two other colors to take for herself.

"Does any-pony know where I can find an accordion?" Pinkie shouted out from the doorway to her fellow elements. "Gals, hello, this is important! Maybe Ash can help a pony out, so thanks for nothing." The party animal said before galloping off. As she journeyed off Ash's speedy Grass type saw what was going on and decided to report in.

"Boss, we may have a problem." Sceptile stated after entering the home where Ash was doing dome meditation - try to get a feel for his aura a bit better since he had the time.

"What is it?" Ash asked after walking over to the tree gecko.

"Not sure if it's dire, but Twilight had these strange, smiling bugs with her." The Leaf Blade expert explained and after seeing the confused look on the hero's face he added, "I could hear that she only had one at first." This got his attention.

"Sounds interesting." The human responded before hearing a knock at the door. "Who could that be?" Ash questioned before going to the door after opening it the trainer saw the pink one on his doorstep.

"Hey, Ash, do you have an accordion?" She asked in a nearly high speed tone.

"In the third bedroom. Totodile wanted to give it a shot. I think he thought it was a new form of a bouncy ball." Ketchum said before looking down and saw that the pony he was talking to had already raced into his home, and was racing out with the instrument in hoof.

"Thanks, Ash, bye." Laughter shouted out as she fled. AK shrugged it off, grabbed some grub, and then went back to tapping into his aura. Around dusk at the library Twilight was marveling at how good of a job her little brother did to their home.

"Oh, the decorations, the banquet, I hope everything comes together for tomorrow." The student said as she looked out the window before looking down at Spike and his friend. "What is there to worry about?" She thought aloud before going to bed. "Spike! Wake up! What happened?" TS shouted after falling out of her bed, and headed over to the dragon's bed.

"What's going on?" The dragon questioned after prying two of them away from his closed eyes.

"Where did they come from?" The purple one questioned as she looked at the room full of Parasprites.

"I don't know. The little guy got hungry in the night, so I gave him a snack. I have no idea where these others came from." Spike explained what he knew, and that was when they the two saw the lot of them messing things up in the library.

'There's got to be food around here.' They all thought while making a mess.

"Oh no! They're messing up all my hard work." The dragon said as he just stood there and watched.

"The princess will be here in a few hours." The pony informed before galloping away to try to clean up what they were messing up. "Spike, help me round up these little guys." She ordered after feather dusting a few away from the book shelves.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He questioned back as he tried to hold an overflowing basket in his claws, but tripped over his own tail, and all of them fell on top of him. TS dusted them away to make sure her scaly chum was okay. "I know. I know. Stop fooling around." The dragon said to her after seeing that she was giving him a miffed look.

"Got to warn Ash." Noctowl, who had been watching TS house for a while, whispered to himself before flying back home. Unknown to any of them was that another flyer was about to have the same problem as the spell caster.

'Good morning, little one.' RD thought as she cracked open one of her eyes and saw her tiny friend stick out of her cloud bed, but then another popped out. 'That's not right.' The rain maker thought before seeing that she had a lot of them in her room.

'Hmm? Sounds like Rainbow is up?' The first bird thought and decided to say hello to her, but when he got there the bird was greeted by a strange sight. 'That's just weird.' Pidgeot thought as he watched as several multi-colored insects glomped onto his friend in several embarrassing ways.

"Get off of me!" RD shouted as she was doing everything she could for them to stop. When they did not take the hint she flew off which the other did as well since he knew the Pallet Town protector would want to know about this. The surplus of Parasprites were helping one of the six.

"Not only are you adorable, but you are also quit useful." Rarity said as she gently rubbed one holding a cloth's chin. "Are you okay?" She asked when the one she just touched started hacking, and then spat something in her eye.

'Good. Another brother.' The spitter thought as he looked at the spot on the pony's eye.

"Ew!" She exclaimed while cleaning her eye, and that was when she saw it become another Parasprite. "Gross! Gross! Gross! No creature that behaves so revoltingly is allowed in my boutique." She shouted out at them, and then watched as it happened again. Believing this to be a mystical problem the unicorn bundled them in her bags and headed off, but was stopped by her pink themed friend.

"Look, Rarity, Applejack leant me her harmonica. Isn't that great?" Pinkie said and questioned while playing a little tune. "And not a moment too soon." She added when one of the Parasprite tried to take a peek through its portable home, but was denied by the owner of the bag.

"Pinkie, I'm a little busy right now." Generosity informed with a bit of strained voice.

"And I'm not/! Do you have any idea how many more instruments I gotta find - a lot, that's how many. Now if we split the pick-up between us we might just make it in time." PP informed after wrapping one of her upper hooves around her friend's neck.

"Please, Pinkie, I don't have time for some silly scavenger hunt. I got a real problem." Rarity informed back before walking off after getting out of her friend's grip.

"You've got a real problem all right, and a banjo is the only answer." PP said before galloping away. As all that was going on a giant turtle heard all of it as he was trying to take a nap, and decided to do something about it.

'Got to warn him.' Torterra thought before racing as fast as he could back to his home. As he went to get his partner Twilight was racing off, with two bags full, to see if one of the others could help.

"I see we're having the same problem." Generosity said to Magic when the purple pony stopped in front of her.

"Ditto!" RD shouted as she was still trying to get them off of her face.

"Fluttershy knows everything about animals. I'm sure she can tell us how to stop them from multiplying." TS said after their blue winged friend flew off, and then they followed her in the direction of Kindness' home. As they raced there the Trainer got the news.

"Time for a new two in one hero maneuver." Ash said as he looked over at the tree gecko, and at Pidgeot. "Sceptile, Leaf Blade me up to Pidgeot, and when I get up there Pidgeot use Whirlwind as hard as you can." He instructed before jumping as high as he could.

'If that's the way you want it.' The blade expert thought before doing as he was told, and the bird soon did what he was told. With all of that the trainer was heading for the woods beside R and TS.

'Good thing I still know how to swing.' Ash thought as he tapped into his ape-like prowess, and was able to keep in step with them. Eventually the four got over to their destination.

"Or not." Twilight stated when she saw several, several Parasprites fly out of the door before she even had a chance to open it. Much to their horror there were more inside as many that came out.

"Do something, Fluttershy. Can't you control them?" Ash insisted and questioned to the cream/pink one that seemed to be having problems.

"I've tried everything I know: begging, pleading, beseeching, and asking politely." FS explained to the four at her door before fleeing from a frying pan. As Twilight was having a horrible daydream of the Parasprites taking her mentor away Quilava, who was taking a nap by FS's home walked up to them.

"I can handle this, Ash." The Fire class said as he walked into the home, lit up his back, and was ready to attack.

"Quilava, hold up. No telling if your flame will help or hurt matters." Ash informed and the creature knew that his partner meant: flame multiples them faster or kills them instantly, and Ketchum never likes the second option.

"We can't get them under control when the princess arrives it will be a total disaster." Twilight informed the five around her after her daydream stopped.

"Ew! If you ask me it's already a total disaster!" R informed after one of them regener-barfed before her.

"Here's all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy, but I still can't figure out why you need so many." AJ said as she carried a wagon full of apples to the simple cottage. "Hey!" She shouted at the multi-colored cloud that just ate all of the apples in the wagon.

"What do we do?" Kindness questioned to the others since this really wasn't one of her real strengths.

"I got it! No pony can herd like Applejack." TS said while pointing to the pony in question.

"Yeah! We can drive them back into the forest." Rainbow stated since she liked this plan.

"I'll wrasstle them up, but I'll need all your help to do it." AJ stated back to them. "Twilight, you and Rarity wait over there." She instructed and pointed to the spot where she wanted the unicorns. "I'll herd the critters straight at ya like a funnel." She informed before the two galloped away. "Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy stay on top of em. Don't let none of them fly away." She instructed to the two flyers.

"Aye. Aye." The blue one said before she and her friend took to the air. With nothing else to do Ash and Quilava followed after Applejack, and soon they all had them all in a very big ball form.

"All right, ya`ll. Here goes nothin." AJ said and with that the seven of them rolled them back to the forest. With a little teamwork they were able to keep the ball from falling apart, and everything was going good until Laughter appeared out of no where.

"Pinke?" TS questioned since she didn't even see her friend approach them.

"Twilight, we don't have much time." PP explained to the studious one.

"Your telling me. The princess could arrive at any moment." TS said back while glancing skyward to make sure there was no sign of her which there wasn't.

"Exactly, and that's why I need you guys to drop what your doing and help me get some mariachis." PP retorted back to her friend while twisting her head upside down.

"Mariachis? Pinkie, we have bigger things to worry about than missing mariachis." The student said back as she still wasn't getting that the pink one knew how to deal with this.

"Your right! Getting a tuba has to be our number one goal. Follow me." Laughter said and rushed off, but after seeing no one did she double backed. "I said: follow me." The others still stayed focused on the ball.

"Pinkie Pie, you are so random." The bold, blue flyer stated in an annoyed tone.

"You are all so stubborn." The partier in pink said back, and hurried off to do her own thing.

"Forget her, fellas. Focus. Head em up, and move `em out." AJ said as she continued to steer the ball into the forest. Eventually they were able to succeed in their mission, and the Pegusi high hoofed each other for a job well done even though it did sting the timid one's hooves.

"Let's get going and clean up the mess before the princess arrives." TS said after all the celebrating was done.

'Why is she so gung-ho of getting instruments?' Ash thought as he followed them.

"Okay, everyone knows what to do, right? We've got to work extra hard to make up for lost time." Twilight said as she gave everyone there a job to do. The owner of the house got to the door, and opened it which unleashed a lot more Parasprites.

"where did all of those come from?" Ash questioned as he saw them all fly past them, and he didn't understand how another wave could be here already or at all.

"Well, I may have kept just one." FS said in an embarrassed tone as an orange one appeared on her back. "I couldn't help myself. They're just so cute." She said to them and watched as the orange one flew away.

"We don't have time to keep rounding up these things. What do we do now?" The student questioned at the insect like hairballs around them.

"We call in the weather control." RD, who flew back home to get her work goggles, said after landing, and then took to the air. "Time to take out the adorable trash." She said after seeing that her friends were trying to keep them nearby, and after a battle roar the weather manipulator created a tornado.

'Ok, that's pretty cool.' Ash thought as he found his footing and watched as the cyclone sucked them all in causing it to slowly become multi-colored.

Way to go, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted out after seeing that this plan was working.

"Looks like our problems are solved." AJ exclaimed happily to her spell making friend. The situation became dire when a voice called out to them.

"They will be with these cymbals." PP said as she happily crashed them together before adding, "Hey, give me those back." When the cyclone took them from her. RD had difficulty flying with the metal dishes in her cyclone and she was soon forced them to lose plan B.

"Rainbow!" Ash shouted out as he saw the controller of the cyclone fly out of it. The human was able to grab her, and take the tree hit for her while the others watched the small creatures rain down upon Ponyville.

"Pinkie Pie, what have you done?" The organized one of the group questioned the wild card of the group.

"I've lost a brand new pair of cymbals that's what I've done." The party planner shouted back and tried to think of where she can get a new pair.

"Would you forget about your silly instruments for one second. You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville." TS shouted out to her friend in an angered tone.

"Me?! Ruin?! I'm not the ruiner. I'm the ruinee, or is it ruiness? Ruinette?" Pinkie shouted out, but then got sidetracked to figure out which ruin title she was. The others saw this as their chance to leave her in the dust.

"Come on, guys. There's no reason with that one. She's a few apples short of a bushel." AJ said as she was the first to leave followed by the others with Ash and Quilava bringing up the rear.

"Hey! I'm trying to tell you all that the ruining is on the other hoof. If you all slow down and listen to me!" PP shouted and then went off to get the supplies herself. This is what got Ash's attention which caused him to stop.

"Quilava, go with her. Help her out with her mission, and use any of our friends as you can." Ash informed the Fire type who nodded back and rushed after her. 'I have a feeling that she knows the solution to this more than anyone of the others.' Ash thought before chasing after the girls.

'These things are so cute.' All of the ponies in that small town thought as they watched the strange creatures fall from the sky. One of the citizens caught it causing her and her friend to stare at it with wide eyes.

'Food!' The blue Parasprite on the pony's hoof thought before eating two pieces of cake. This made the one with the lyre as her symbol was about to cry because she had been wanting to try that new cake for a while now.

'Again.' One of the gardeners thought as a dust cloud of sorts came in, ate almost everything, and flew away.

"What do we do? They're eating all the food in town." FS questioned once they all made it to town and saw the market place was under attack.

"My apples!" The bucker shouted and galloped back to her home to rally her family to defend it.

"We've got to do something." The student said aloud before seeing a Parasprite before her which gave her a notion. "I've got it! I'll cast a spell to make them stop eating all the food." She informed the others which got the trainer's attention.

"I don't think that's a good…" Ketchum tried to reason with her, but saw that she was already casting it, "Idea." He finished his comment even though he didn't really need to.

"Look! Tambourines! If you could all just -Grrrrr!" Pinkie informed them and then ran off since they were not listening to her. TS saw one of them go to an apple, but was relieved that it did not take the fruit; what it did take was the basket.

"Hey, it worked. They're not eating the food anymore." Rainbow Dash informed as an apple rolled up to her hooves. Twilight became embarrassed because she was not expecting this to happen. Ash looked at the four and saw RD blaming TS for this, and FS blaming herself, but then he cast his gaze to R.

'3...2...' Ash thought since he had a gut feeling that the fashion designer was going to understand the downside to the spell.

"Oh no! If they get inside my store…EVERYPONY FOR HERSELF!" Rarity said calmly before shouting the last part and bolted for her home. "My outfits!" She shouted once getting inside and saw that they were all being eaten one by one. She tried to shoo them away, but after realizing that she was outnumbered the Generosity coward on a stool.

"I'll save you!" Gliscor shouted out as he put on his best menacing pose. He then hopped inside which caused the white/purple one to think he came for her, but watched as she was passed for her piccolo.

'Seriously.' Rarity watched as the bat-like creature blew into it, and then hopped away leaving her to scream in terror. As for the other location three out of four of the family members, none of them wanted the youngest to get hurt, and Tauros stood ready.

"No woodland creature is gonna eat the apple family's crop." AJ said as she stood ready with bug spray while her big bro stood ready with a fly swatter, and their granny held a pitchfork. The wild bull stood in front of their blockade, and was ready to use his attacks on them.

"Bring it on!" Tauros bellowed as he stood ready for them, but watched as they bypassed all the apples and ate the outside of the barn instead.

"Didn't see that one coming?" AJ said after the framework fell to the ground. Now knowing that her crops were safe the farm girl headed back into town to see what she could do.

'Biggest supply of non regular food, next to Rarity…Twilight.' Ash thought as he raced over to the library to see if she was okay. The two of them got into the building to see something that should be impossible.

"They're eating the words." TS shouted and knew that she would need to order a whole bunch of new books after this is over.

"Grab one, and meet me at our herbalist's place." Ash instructed before racing off since he had a gut feeling that the zebra may know something. She followed his advice, and followed after him.

'Meditation is always good.' The zebra thought as she balanced herself upside down on a bamboo stick. Outside Ash use aura sight to see if she was doing anything important, and was about to knock to get her attention, but his friend had other ideas: barge in.

'No.' AK thought before leaping in, and caught the eco-mancer before she could touch ground. Zecora liked the gesture, but decided not to show it.

"Have you gone mad?" She shouted out at Ash who simply sported a nervous smile before putting her on the ground - hooves first.

"Zecora, these little guys are devouring Ponyville, and the princess is on her way. Can you help us, please?" Twilight said as she released the bug she carried with her which went right over to the zebra.

"Oh monster of such little size. Is that a Parasprite before my eyes?" The witch doctor said as it rested on the tip of her nose.

"I don't know - is it?" TS questioned, and braced herself for some good advice.

"Tales of crops and harvests consumed. If these creatures are in Ponyville…you're doomed." Zecora said forebodingly and then casually as the one sprite barfed out another copy. This was not what the student wanted to hear, so she decided to flee back to the town.

"Thank you for your time, Zecora. Sorry for startling you." Ash said as he followed after the purple one and closed the door behind him. Now alone the zebra tried to concentrate on her meditation, but there was still a part of her that thought of that holding moment.

'Dang it, get off of me.' TS thought as she tail whipped the Parasprites over her, but missed.

"We have bigger problems then those brightly colored flies." Ketchum said to her before pointing up at the sky. Magic followed his finger, and saw what he meant.

"Oh no. Here she comes." The student said as she watched her idol slowly come toward Ponyville. She galloped as fast as she could as Ash ran along side her.

'Ooooh. New meal.' Several of them thought and decided to go after the human which he did notice, but the organized one did not.

"Okay, here's the plan. Rainbow Dash: you and Ash distracts them." She instructed to the two.

"It's a done deal." AK said to his friend before racing off. RD as well and wondered if they thought her mane was some form of candy since they no longer fed on normal food.

"Good. Everyone else we need to make an exact copy of Ponyville right over there. We've got less then a minute." Twilight said and watched as the ponies fled and Ash's creatures were doing more harm than good with their brawn first style. "Zecora's right. We're doomed." Magic admitted, and just in time to hear a tune coming her way.

'Really hope no one sees me doing this.' Sceptile thought as he walked along with several of his brothers and sister.

"Oh no. The princess' precession is here. It's all over." The student of the visitor said aloud, and then saw the source of the music: several of Ash's Pok`emon and Pinkie Pie guiding them.

'Good. They're keeping the tempo.' Pinkie thought as she watched as Sceptile on accordion, Charizard on harmonica, Heracross on Banjo, Bayleef on maracas, Snorlax on tuba, Totodile on symbols, Quilava on tambourine, and Gliscor on piccolo were following her directions.

"Pinkie, we're in the middle of a crisis here. This is no time for your…nonsense." Twilight tried chewing her out only to see that the parasprites had stopped their chewing and was grooving to the music.

'What the? Don't they like my clothes anymore?' Ash thought as he saw the insects on his shirt/jacket were bouncing with the others as they bounced behind the bat's bouncing tail. He then grouped out with the other five who were just as confused as he was. With nothing better to do the six followed the parade.

"Look!" TS shouted and pointed to the carriage that just hit ground. The six ran past the parade to meet up with the royal one.

"Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil." Princess Celestia said as she got off of her ride to meet the six bowing/kneeling before her.

"Hello, Princess." The student said as she rose from her bowing pose as the others did as well.

"So good to see you again. As well as your friends." Celestia said with a smile which the others returned the smile. "Although, why is your jacket and shirt is such disarray?" She asked about Ash's Swiss cheese top half.

"Well, you see, your majesty it's like this…" Ketchum started to explain himself, but before he could properly explain the parade went past her and distracted the sun raiser.

"So, how was the trip? Hit much traffic?" Twilight asked as a way to further Ash from explaining what happed to his top since the student knew Ash was a truthful sort, and she did not want her idol to know of what happened to the town.

"What is this?" PC questioned before a parasprite landed on her which she used her left wing to get a better look at the creature. "These creatures are adorable." She exclaimed as she watched the creature fly off to the others.

"They're not that adorable." RD muttered under her breath while sticking her tongue out in disgust which the others snickered about.

"I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit." Celestia said to them which confused the student greatly since she didn't plan on a parade.

"Yep, that's your student. Always making sure you are greeted properly even if it is just a casual visit. Right, Twilight?" Ash said with a smile before glancing over at the sixth one.

"Uh…uh-huh." She responded, and was grateful that Ash had her back on that part.

"Unfortunately that visit is going to have to wait for another time." She said to the subjects before her. "I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently there has been some form of infestation." She explained as to why the visit had to wait.

"An infestation?" TS questioned and prayed it wasn't more parasprites.

"Yes, a swarm of bothersome creatures have invaded the pour town." The princess went deeper into the explanation. "I'm sorry, Twilight, to have put you through so much trouble." She added in a sincere tone.

"Trouble? What trouble?" She asked back innocently, and prayed the damage wasn't so sever that they could see it from here.

"Before I have to go would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person." The princess stated as she boarded her ride.

"My report?" TS questioned since she was so worried about the bugs she forgot all about it.

"Haven't you learned anything about friendship?" PC questioned back, and wondered if she was right. Magic noticed that Ketchum was stretching his neck muscles until she realized that he was motioning over to the band before them.

"Actually, I have. I've learned that the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop, and listen to your friends opinions and perspectives." TS said as she neared her teacher's carriage which the others did as well.

'Oops.' Totodile thought as he accidentally slammed his instrument too loudly and gave the ones before them a bit of a start.

"Even when they don't always seem to make sense." She added after calming down from the scare.

"I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like your learning so much from each other." PC said back before rolling off, and taking flight, but not before noticing the pieces of skin coming from the torn clothes, and saw the well toned body beneath it.

"Hey, what happened to the Princess?" Pinkie questioned as her make-shift band stopped once the last of them went back to the Everfree Forest.

"Emergency in Fillydelphia." Magic explained to Laughter.

"Some sort of infestation." Loyalty added which got Laughter's attention.

"Oh no! Have they got parasprites too. Well, have tuba we'll travel. Ready, guys." PP said as she looked back at the band, but before they could answer one of the others cut her to the quick.

"I think the princess can handle it." The student said so her friend didn't have to go through all that trouble.

"So, you knew what those critters were all along, and you knew that she was on the right track from the start." AJ said to the protector and partier.

"Well, duh, why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments. I tried to tell you, but at least Ash had my back." PP said back while looking at one of the tallest in the group.

"You weren't acting as random as normal, so I had Quilava and some others back you up just in case. Good work by the way, team." AK said as he looked at everyone there.

"We know, Pinkie Pie, and we're sorry we didn't listen." TS said and let the others apologize before adding, "You're a great friend even if we don't always understand you." The spell caster prayed she would take that in a good way.

"Thanks, guys. Your all great friends too even when I don't understand me." The party animal explained back and meant her statement.

"You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, and more importantly you saved Ponyville." Twilight said with a smile, but when the team got there the whole place was in shambles. "Or not." She added which caused Haunter to do a comical tune on the trombone.

"Well, time to get to work." Ash said as he set off to try to rebuild as best as he could. "Come on, guys." He instructed causing the band to dump their instruments and help out their partner.

'This is much better.' The swordsmon thought as he used his speed to clean up the ground beneath them. Several hours later the group was able to clean up the ground, repair a few carts, and two buildings, but after all that it was already time to turn in.

'Quitting time already?' Ash thought after nailing the last nail to a home, but decided to get back to it in the morning. Due to all of their hard work Ash and his team slept soundly, but as the aura warrior slept he thought of his fights with: Blaine and Flannery which still confused him.


	12. Chapter 12

Ash, and all other characters are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - characters and locations all belong to Hasbro

Chapter 11

Winter Wrap Up

It was a pleasant slumber for all in Ponyville except for one once she realized what the day's activities was. "Ah, Spike wake up! Wake up! It's Winter Wrap Up day!" TS exclaimed after nuzzling her little brother with her nose.

"Huh? Wha? Mommy?" The half tired creature questioned before coming face to face with another purple face.

"Winter Wrap Up." She repeated herself, and when the image cleared up the dragon saw who it was and didn't like it

"You're not mommy." He informed before going back to bed. She ignored the comment and focused on the fun that she was going to have.

"Spike, the first day of Spring is tomorrow, so everyone in Ponyville needs to clean up Winter. Now, help me get ready." Twilight informed while straightening a hanging frame, and then jumped into her Winter shoes.

"Clean up Winter? Who cleans up Winter? Don't they change the seasons with magic like we do in Canterlot?" The dragon questioned since for something that sounded this hard - he preferred the easy way.

"No, Spike. Ponyville was started by Earth ponies, so for hundreds of years they've never used magic to clean up Winter." The student of Celestia stated as she tried to put on her saddle. "It traditional." She added before hearing the item fall from her and land on the floor.

"It's ridiculous. No magic. Feh." The dragon commented back to her as he went back to bed. The four legged one ignored him again and focused on tightening her saddle and putting on her scarf.

"Okay, let's see. Scarf - check. Saddle - check. Boots - check. Spike refusing to get up and going back to sleep - check." The organized one said as she checked all the items off of her list and added, "It's a good thing I'm so organized. I'm ready. Bright and early." It was then she saw that it was still dark out and there wasn't a pony in sight. "Oh, maybe a little too early." She admitted and felt a bit embarrassed that she was this far ahead of the others.

"Are you two sure you don't want to try to help out?" Ash asked a few hours Twilight woke up, and the question was for two of his creatures.

"Considering the theme of the day. I think it best that we remain here." The transport type stated as she stayed in her man-made lake.

"If it's all the same. I'll stay here too. To keep them company." The big crab commented and added, "Besides, even without the three of us. You still have enough might to clean up this season." Ketchum knew that he was right, and decided to just go on ahead with the others.

'I hope those three will be alright.' Ash thought as he headed into town where he saw that everyone was putting on vests. Rarity saw the approaching creatures and decorated them in vests or scarves in blue, green, and tan.

"I hope you like them." Generosity stated with a smile which was answered by a few nods, and overall 'thank you' comments. With them on they all gathered around City Hall.

"Those must be the team vests Rarity designed. Blue for the weather team. Green for the plant team. And Tan for the animal team. I wonder which team I'll be wearing." Twilight said as she galloped to the others and saw the three vests in question.

"I'll take a blue vest the same color as my blanket. Which I think I hear calling my name. Spike, Spike come to bed. Ugh, It's too early." The reptile commented even though he saw his brothers and their family bright eyed and bushy tailed.

"Thank you, everyone for being here bright and early. We need everyone's help to wrap up winter and bring in spring." The mayor explained to them before pausing for loud cheer. "Now, all of you have your vests and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year and have the quickest Winter wrap up ever!" She added once the cheer simmered down.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" TS said as everyone else cheered for getting ready to do this job again.

"Alright everybody. Find your team leader - and let's get galloping." The mayor said and with that everyone headed off in the three different spots for the exception of five creatures.

"Oh, gosh. Where should I go? I'm not sure where'd I fit in." The new girl said as she looked at the groups and suddenly felt nervous about this whole thing. "What exactly does every-pony do?" She questioned to the three before her who simply shrugged since they were not part of the hoofed class. The group heard her question, and decided to let her know.

"Three moths of Winter coolness, and awesome Holidays." Rainbow sang out.

"We've kept our hoovsies warm at home and off work at home to play." PP sang next.

"But the food we've stored is runnin out, and we can't grow in this cold." AJ sang next.

"And even though I love my boots this fashions getting old." R sang as she looked at her Winter hoof wear.

"It's time to welcome Spring, and all things warm and green, but it's also time to say good-bye. It's Winter we must clean. How can I help with all you see. What does every-pony do? How do I fit in without magic? I haven't got a clue." Twilight sang as she trotted through a path, but stopped. Ash, Noctowl, and Primeape simply listened to this song and enjoyed it.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Let's finish our Holiday cheer." R, FS, a fellow pony sang with Heracross, Quilava, and Donphan palling with them.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up." Three members of the grass team echoed as they trotted on their way.

"Cause tomorrow Spring is here." AJ sang with the wild bull right beside her, but the two were slightly startled when a pair of blurrs zipped past them. To their relief it was only a brother and a Element of Harmony.

"Cause tomorrow Spring is here." The two flyers echoed before meeting up with the others.

"Bringing home the Southern birds a Pegasus job begins and clearing up the gloomy skies will let the sun shine in. We move away the clouds and melt the white snow. When the sun comes up it's warmth and beauty will glow." Rainbow said as some of her fellow winged ones went to work and even had time to hoof-bump.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Let's finish our Holiday cheer. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Because tomorrow Spring is here." A group sang as they dropped off supplies to Rarity's home. "Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Because tomorrow Spring is here. Because tomorrow Spring is here." A group sang while tilling the white Earth.

"Little critters hibernate underneath the snow and ice. We wake up all the sleepy heads, so quietly and nice. We help them gather up their food. Fix up their homes for long. We welcome back the Southern birds, so the families can grow." The animal/wake-up team sang aloud before doing just that.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Let's finish our holiday cheer. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Cause tomorrow Spring is here. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Cause tomorrow Spring is here. Cause tomorrow Spring is here." Snow control sang with RD and Infernape dropping a branch full of snow on Magic, aura, and dragon.

"No easy task to clear the ground. Plant our tiny seeds. With proper care and sunshine everyone of these seeds. Apple, carrots, celery stalks, colorful flowers too. We must work so very hard. It's just so much to do." AJ sang with her planting team.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Let's finish our Holiday cheer. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Because tomorrow Spring is here. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Because tomorrow Spring is here. Because tomorrow Spring is here." Animal crew hopping with rabbits, roof shovel team, cloud movers, and Pinkie Pie sang aloud.

"Now that I know what they all do I have to find my place, and help out with all of my Heart. Tough task ahead I face. How will I do without my magic help the Earth pony way. I want to belong so I must do my best today. Do my best today." Twilight sang as she marched up to the tip of a cliff.

"Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Let's finish our holiday cheer. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Cause tomorrow Spring is here. Winter wrap up. Winter wrap up. Because tomorrow Spring is here. Because tomorrow Spring is here. Because tomorrow Spring is here." All the teams sang together and dragged out the last 'here.' Now that she understood the basics Twilight was still concerned.

"Every creature belongs to a team. What should I do? Where should I go?" TS questioned the four others who were just as clueless as she way. At that moment Ketchum caught a glimpse of a familiar winged blur.

"Let's start there." Ash pointed out to them, and walked along ahead.

"Alright team, your clear for take off." Rainbow Dash explained to three Pegasus and one Poke` bird.

"Rainbow Dash." Magic called out to get her friend's attention.

"Oh, hey, Twilight. What's up?" The speedster questioned since she did enjoy the company of the student of Celestia.

"What are you doing?" She asked politely back to her fellow element.

"Sending out one of my flight crews to retrieve the birds that have flown South for the Winter." Loyalty informed and did not mention that Staraptor was leading that group since they all probably saw that much.

"Oh! Can I help? How about if I help clear out the clouds?" Twilight offered as she looked up at the cloudy sky above.

"Um?" The ROY G BIV themed girl stated before flapping her wings to point out one little fact.

"Right. No wings." TS stated as she looked at her bare sides. The only local Poke` flyer heard that and decided to try to fix that. Noctowl flew from Ash's shoulder to Twilight's back, gently put his talons on her sides, and began to flap his wings as powerful as he could.

"Looks like Noctowl wants to help you clear the skies." Ash said with a meaningful smile since he knew that his old friend's Heart was in the right place.

"Thank you for the kind offer, Noctowl, but I don't want you to strain yourself." The purple pony stated with a kind smile of her own. The shiny bird knew that she had a point since his wings weren't as big as Pidgeot's wing span, so he reluctantly stopped, but stayed on her back.

"Sorry Twilight." Rainbow stated with a truly sorry look on her face before flying off with another team.

"Great. Now what do we do?" TS stated as she received a shrug from the mortal and pig-monkey, but did not see her brother anywhere. Her feathered friend gestured downward with a wing to show where the missing one was.

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be napping." Spike said to her after making a leaf bed and fell asleep as soon as he laid on it.

"Come on, Spike. This is serious business. Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I am determined to do my part…somehow." Twilight explained as she tried toe wake him up.

"Don't worry, Twilight, I'm sure one of the other Elements of Harmony will help us." Ash said with a genuine smile, and with that they headed to a different spot with Primeape dragging Spike behind the human.

"A perfect start if I do so say myself.' Rarity thought as she put the final piece to a new birdhouse - the first of many. Away from the place were five familiar faces that decided to see if they could be of any use.

"Rarity, please tell me that there's something, anything, that we can help you with." TS questioned once they were close enough since she knew that Ash would like to help as well.

"Well, how would you like to help create Ponyville's finest birds nests?" Generosity stated to them which confused the new comers.

"Bird's nests?" Ketchum questioned since he had never heard of making them. The Trainer was led to believe that birds did that part on their own.

"Why, yes. When the weather team guides the birds back North for the Spring they will need a place to live and lay their eggs." R explained to them while looking down at her work.

"Wow, Rarity, that one is really beautiful." The student informed and meant every word.

"Oh, thank you most sincerely. Would you like to try your hoof at a nest?" Rarity offered to them which the Poke`mon and their partner stepped back with their hands up. The group knew that they were meant for combat not nest making.

"Would I?! Yes! Where do I begin?" Twilight answered back while swaying her head left to right: trying to find where to start.

"Okay, now, uh, take some of that straw and hay over there and a little bit of branch." R explained causing the others to watch as she organized them nice and neatly.

'She is very well organized.' The spirit with the brown headband thought as he saw how perfectly neat it all was.

"Now, weave them through there. Yes. Uh, take some ribbon. Yes. Oh, not there…yes. Uh, tuck it in over there, but be careful not to…oh no I suppose that will do. Oh dear." The fashion expert said as she looked away from her friend's work.

"There! It looks just like…yours. Oh my." Twilight said at first with pride until she looked at the proper bird nest and grew doubtful.

"That nest needs to be condemned." Spike informed before receiving a powerful wing slap to the back of the head.

"Oh, Spike." Rarity said as she chuckled through his name. "It's not so bad. Maybe the birds can use it as a…" She added, but could not figure out the proper word choice for such an object.

"An outhouse?" The dragon offered and again received a wing slap to the head. "Quit it!" He shouted to the hypno expert who wanted to use such a skill on the dragon, but knew that Ash would not approve, so the red bird flew back to his friend.

"Spike." R said since she felt the same as Noctowl: that Magic needed sympathy at the moment, not ridicule. "It's just fine. It's just a little rough around the edges. Let me lend you a hoof. Let's just untie this, and if we take out these sticks here." The purple/white creature said while shooing her assistant away, and became lost in fixing the mess.

"I think we lost her." Spike informed the others and with that they all left his crush to do her duty.

"Hello, Ash and Twilight. Wheeee!" PP shouted out as she ice skated before spinning in place. The others were so impressed about the sight that they needed to get a closer look.

"Whoa, Pinkie Pie, you're a really great skater. Probably the best skater I've ever seen." Ash complimented once they were down by the frozen lake she stood on.

"Thanks, Twilight. I've been doing this ever since I was an itty-bitty, little-wittle twinky-pinky. Just comes naturally." PP stated before adding, "Just like with your water pals." With that she gestured to what she was talking about and he saw that they were happily stick fighting on ice skates except for Beedrill who was flying about and using his lances instead of sticks.

'Must be a part of that.' Ash thought with a big smile on his face.

'Which is probably why they designated me as the lake sorter." Pinkie stated and explained such a role. "I cut lines in the lake with my skates that way when the rest of the weather team comes here to break the ice it'll be easy as pie." Ash chuckled at the choice of words while the student saw the science involved.

"How clever. When the thick ice begins to melt it'll break along the lines. Well, you sure have a love of work a head of you. There's quite a few lakes in Ponyville." Twilight informed to her friend.

"Huh, tell me about it. Hey, Twilight, Ash, wanna help me out?" Pinkie questioned, and saw a big grin on both friend's faces.

"Come on. Put on the skates over there. I'm sure you two will be a natural too." The cotton candy themed girl commented, and in no time at all Ash had his skates on with a stick in hand - ready to join his friends.

"Uh…maybe on second thought…." Twilight informed before face-planting on the ice with her wobbly legs.

"What are you talking about? You said you wanted to be helpful. Now get out there." Spike instructed to her and pushed her out onto the slippery ice. Ash was having fun, and was about to question how he was able to ice skate until the orange water beast shouted out.

"Runaway pony!" Buizel called out before doing Aqua Jet to get out of the way while the others simply skated away. This confused the Trainer until he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Twilight was rocketing to him, but before he could do anything she forced him to follow her.

"Whoa!" Pinkie shouted as she saw the two coming at her, but was too late to react to it as well. Just as the three were heading for Spike Ketchum slipped out and grabbed onto a low hanging tree branch.

'Guess that's another way to make a snowman.' The Trainer thought as he saw the three in snowman form with Twilight on the bottom, Pinkie in the middle, and Spike on top.

"You are a natural Twilight. A natural disaster." Spike stated with a long happy laugh escaping his mouth. The faithful bird would have slapped him if it wasn't totally true…for this anyways.

"Twilight, you did a great job your first time around. I'm sure my first time was just as wobbly, bobbly, and crasherific as yours." PP said with a smile on her face.

"Really?" TS questioned with hope that a native was just as amature like as she was.

"No." She said with a sad tone before continuing with, "But did I make you feel better?" Magic could tell that Laughter was trying so she decided to answer as besst as she could.

"I guess." Twilight could not blame her for that little white lie since TS did feel useless without her magic factor, but was still willing to put all her Heart into this.

"I bet you'll do super awesome at something that keeps your hooves on the ground. I know - Fluttershy could probably use your help with the critters." PP stated which intested her friends greatly.

"Well, I am pretty good with little animals. Yeah, I'll go help her." The new girl said before seeing that gravity decided to pull her away from her friend.

"It's, uh, that-a-way." Laughter informed causing the girl to flail in the direction given. After slamming into more snow, and Ash giving her hand of taking off the skates the group headed to where Pikachu, Quilava, and Torkoal were.

"Wake-up little sleepy heads. Hope you had some happy dreams in your restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now. Spring is coming." Fluttershy after ringing a bell to singnal the sleerpers to awaken.

"Aw, how cute." Twilight gushed as two hedgehogs walked past them.

"Aren't they? This is my favorite task of the whole season when I get to see all my little animal friends again." FS informed the new comers, and they knew that to be true - given her personality.

"Uh, what's hibernation?" The dragon questioned since he overheard her use that word to the forest creatures just now.

"It's like…a long sleep." Kindness said as a way to simplify it for the leathery one.

"Long sleep?" Little brother stated to big sister before following the animal lover to another hole.

"Yes." She answered back before ringing the bell and saying, "Wake up, little porkupines." After saying that the winged one placed the bell under her wing. "Animals often hibernate in the Winter to save up energy and eat less food." She explained to him.

'Sounds like something an Ursaring would do.' Ash thought before hearing what the scaly chum had to say about the word.

"I definetly like the idea of hibernation except for that eat less food part." Spike stated and it was then they saw two porkupines come out, yawn, and hug one another only to get pin pricked by their own quills.

"Ah! But just look at all these warrens and dens. Even with your Poke`mon helping me I'm worried that I won't be able to wake up every animal before Spring comes." Fluttershy said and the others saw that the three were having a bit of trouble with the wake-up part themselves.

"Well, we'll help Fluttershy." Twilight said before her brain could register it.

"Oh, you will! Oh, That would be wonderful." The cream/pink pony explained back before taking her bell, and giving it to Spike.

"Okay, let's start there." TS stated while motioning over to a nearby hole. "Hello? Wake up little friends. Whereever you are. Spring is coming." Twilight informed as she rang the bell before and after her statement.

'This one might be a good job for her.' Spike thought as he watched as the magical pony pull her head out of the hole.

"Oh! I wonder what cute, little, furry creatures I've awoken." The studious one said aloud and was picturing all forms of fuzzy buddies, but was alarmed at the result. "Aah! Snakes! Snakes!" She shouted while rushing away in fear; right into another cave.

'Today is not her day.' The monster tamer thought as he saw her run away from bats, slam into a tree, a beehive fell on top of her, and she back peddled right into a skunk home.

"Good Morning, friends." Twilight said to the three person skunk family that was coming out of the latest hole that TS ran into. To seal the deal Torkoal, who saw everything, walked over to Twilight's hole and started bawling.

"Hey, take it easy, Torkoal. She's fine, relax. We're just going to take a slight break." Ash explained while gently patting his turtle on the head which let the turtle know that everything was alright.

"Come on, we better get the bath ready." Noctowl informed them and decided to fly home with the others right behind. Ash got the bathtub, Spike and Primeape got the Tomato Paste, and Noctowl kept her company. Once everything was set up the eager one got in, but still felt miserable.

"All this Winter wrap up stuff is a lot harder than it looks." Twilight informed as her scaly chum scrubbed the top of her head.

"Right, because there's no magic. Why don't you just use magic, Twilight, and get it done the right way." Spike commented as he put a clothes pin on his nose to block out the skunk musk.

"No, Spike, I have to do it the traditional way. Ponyville has never needed magic to wrap up winter." The studious one retorted with some tomato paste dripping from her mane.

"But they've never had you before here either. Think about how better they can wrap up Winter with your magic or your Fire types." The dragon stated back and prayed that they would see things his way.

"No, no, no! I'm gonna find out another way to help even if it kills me." TS shouted back as Ash opened another can of paste, and gave it to his feathered friend. Once in the talons Noctowl flew over and dumped the latest can on her head.

"Not to mention I try not to use my Poke`mon to melt away snow: such quick melting may cause an ecological problem." Ash informed the young one since he didn't try to melt snow or ice unless it was for a good reason.

'These two aren't any fun.' Spike thought as he silently grumbled about their decision not to do as he offered.

'Perhaps the Earth will yield a better response to this go getter.' Ash thought after the stink finally left her, washed and dried off. Once that was done the group headed to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Keep pushing, Caramel! That's it, Pumpkin! I know it's hard work, but you guys are doing great! Yeh-Haw!" Applejack shouted out as she gave her workers compliments since she did mean what she said.

"Hey, Applejack, how's everything going?" Magic questioned Honesty as she walked closer to the leader of the garden team.

"Oh, just dandy. A little slow starting, but peachy all the same. It's a lot of ground to clear. We can't even start the plantin `n the waterin until all this heap of snow high tail out of here." The farm girl explained to the visitors.

"Well, I'd like to help." The bookworm girl stated, and prayed that the hard-worker would have her services.

'Studier say what?' AJ thought after hearing that and displayed a wide eyed expression. As she considered her options Ash saw that his Earth turtle was left out of the action.

'A can see Torterra really wants to help, but…' Ketchum thought and scanned the area until he spotted what seemed to be an older version of snow mover that the others were using. 'That will do.' He thought before going over to it. "Follow me, Torterra." He offered as he walked past the mobile tree.

"Sure thing, Ash." The turtle said and followed. They made it to the shovel, and after removing the rusted frame from the still usable scoop the human offered it to his partner. "Thank you so much, Ash." The Grass turtle said as he affectionately nuzzled his head against the kind heated human.

"No problem at all, Torterra. Now get to work." Ash called out which the creature nodded grabbed the bar with his mouth and started to push along. 'Hmm? Where's Twilight?' The trainer thought as he saw said pony in one of the machines, and was trying to make it go.

'Man, this thing is heavy.' TS thought as she tried to move it, but it remained where it was. She looked over to the others who just gave her disappointed fasial expressions from two of them.

'Just think how quicker they could wrap up Winter with your magic.' Spike's words echoed to her, and it did seem like a selfless move.

"I could use a 'come to life' spell." The purple one offered before looking at the group, and grew nervous because she heard Ash's honorable statement as well. "Oh, here goes." She said to herself and folded to Spike's words instead.

'Whoa! Twilight is strong.' Tauros and Donphan thought as they were easily passed by the book smart heroine.

"Hmm? She's awful strong for a little pony." The farm girl informed the others and knew something was up, but did not know what.

"That's my girl - following my advise." Spike shouted out proudly which only put concern to the others.

"And what in tarnation does that mean." The hard worker questioned while looking at the group beside her along with the new girl, and did not get an answer. Ketchum, who was just watching his Poke`mon help out without their powers, noticed the speed demon.

'This may not end well.' The human thought before jogging over to the others since he had a gut feeling that they were about to become involved somehow. On the field TS discovered that she was having some trouble.

"Uh-oh. Slow down! Slow down!" She shouted to the device which did not listen, but instead started to create a very big snowball. One in which Ash, Applejack, and Spike became a part of while the pig-monkey and owl dodged such a fate.

"What's going on! What'd you do? You used magic didn't you?" Applejack questioned as she was spun around and around. The device kept going until it ran into a stone wall.

"Okay, guys, group hug." Ash said as he grabbed the three, and layed on top of him as a Cliffside of snow came rolling down. The ponies felt good that they were almost done until they say a snow tidal wave - one in which did not harm the workers, but put fresh snow where there was Earth.

"Well, back to it then." Tauros said to the angered workers, and did just that with his fellow Poke`mon helping him. Back at the beginning of the wave Ash's aura began to melt the snow just enough for them to tunnel upwards.

"Nice, Twilight. You used magic!" AJ shouted at her in anger.

"The nerve! Can you believe her?" Spike stated as he tried to pull off that he did not know anything about it even though the cow-girl had a feeling that Spike was TS shoulder devil this day.

"That's not how we do it around here, Twilight, and especially not on my farm." AJ informed even though she did not know of how the new girl's day has been in the least.

"Well, see…I just wanted to…Oh!" Twilight tried to explain herself as tears swelled up in her eyes, but before she could say anything concrete the student fled.

"She's been having an off day." AK stated before pulling himself out of the snow and headed after her with Primeape and Noctowl following close by. Spike followed soon after them since he did feel partially responsible for pushing her to use magic on this event.

"Come on, Twilight. Come on out." Spike said to a bush in front of city hall: one he saw his sister hide herself in seconds before. Around them were Snorlax, Corphish, and Muk helping clear the snow off of roofs and branches.

"I'm a Winter mess-up." TS said while shaking the bush a bit as she spoke. The others did not like to see this, but at the same time had a feeling that she wasn't in the mood to hear them out.

"You're good at a lot of things. Just not - nest making, ice skating, animal waking, and snow clearing." The dragon explained to her before getting a wing slap to the back of the head.

"Thanks a lot for making me feel so much better." The student replied back with plenty of sacrasm in her voice, but the leathery one did not catch the tude part in her comment.

"That's what I'm here for, sister." The little brother stated since he thought his words did pick up her spirits.

'He calls that a pep talk. I know of several factors I like about her.' The feathered fighter thought, but became more red as he thought of the pony in question. 'Good thing I was given red feathers.' He thought while looking up at his often oblivious partner.

"Rainbow Dash, ya'll on the weather team needs to melt the rest of this snow here on the ground and on the trees pronto." AJ informed the fearless flier of the six as they grouped together for a meeting.

"Got it!" The sky cap shouted and was about to leave before Kindness bared her way.

"You can't! My poor little animals homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast." FS informed RD about that danger to the quick melting method.

"Got it!" Pidgeot informed as he flew in place over the three of them.

"I'm telling you Pidgeot, you and Rainbow have to melt that snow: now!" Tauros shouted up at his long standing friend while trying to make a good impression with the bucker beside him.

"No, you've got to wait a bit longer." Torkoal shouted up to the flyer above him as Loyalty flew up beside the first bird partner.

"Okay." The large winged one stated in a hesitant voice. This started a see-saw effect of Tauros and Applejack saying: go and Torkoal and Fluttershy saying: stop.

"Make up your minds!" The tomboy shouted down to the four of them.

'This is new.' Ash thought as he heard the discussion. "Good to see you, Pikachu." The Trainer said as he felt a familiar figure climbing up to his shoulder. The TS team stood there and watched the show before them.

"What in Equestira are all of you arguing about?" The mayor questioned to them after a groan of aggrivation escaped her lips. "This sort of silliness is exactly why we were late for Spring last year. And the year before that and the year before that." She informed which caught one of the lookers attention quickly.

"Did she say: late?" Twilight questioned and prayed that her ears weren't playing tricks on her. To her relief the student received a headnod from the owl which pleased the studious one a bit.

"I was hoping my amazing inspirational speech would urge everyone to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever! I mean just look at this catastrophe - the ice borers made the ice too big to melt." She informed and received an 'I'm sorry' shrug from the captain. "The nest designer's horrendously behind. We need several hundred, and she's only made one." She added while gesturing to Generosity who was sobbing up a storm despite Haunter, Heracross, and Butterfree trying to encourage her to continue. "And don't get me started on all the clouds still in the sky, the iceicles in the trees. Oh, this isn't good. Not at all!" She finished her examination on how things are going.

"And it's going to be all to pieces disastrous if we can't get all our seeds planted." AJ informed while gesturing to the seed carts that were still just sitting there.

"Chillax, Applejack, we're bustin our chops as fast as we can." The weather cap reasoned with her before getting a comment from the animal waker beside her.

"No. Not fast. You have to wake animals slowly." FS informed the speed demon that waking creatures takes time. They thought it was bad, but sadly they were about to be hit with even worse news.

"Uh, AJ…" The silent red one started to speak as he led a green team member over to the captain.

"Oh, good gravy. Caramel lost the Grass seeds again, didn't he?" The Grass captain questioned even though she already knew the answer.

"Yep." The big brother commented calmly.

'Please don't hate me.' Caramel thought as he gave her a pretty sad face. Another problem happened, but with the Weather team.

"Ditzy Dew accidentally went North to get the Southern birds." One of the winged ponies reported down to the captain.

"Ugh, that feather brain! Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went West." The weather cap shouted back, and with that every-pony started complaining about something or another.

"Stop this at once! We don't have time to argue! It's almost sundown. Spring is going to be late again. Another year of scandle and shame. If only we can be more organized." The mayor informed, and it was then the new girl realized that what she said was another one of her factors.

"Spike, get my checklist and clipboard - stat." TS said as she leapt out of the bush and started to feel like her old self again.

"Uh, yes ma`am." The dragon said with a salute and zipped off to get said items. The student of Celestia tried to get their attention which went unheard, and the hero saw this.

"Allow us to help. Pikachu?" Ash said before looking at his shoulder buddy.

"Listen up!" Pikachu shouted out as he performed a Thunderbolt to the heavens. They all saw this and turned to see the souce, and once they did the aura hero and the voltage one was pointing to Magic.

"I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. What you need is - organization, and I'm just the pony for the job." She explained which made them all feel a bit better.

'Maybe now we can see some true progress.' Noctowl thought as he watched them move in a bit more fluid manner. Big Macintosh and Primeape carried bailes of hay to the nest makers, Quilava torched the…prototype, Rarity and a new assistant along with Haunter built them, and Butterfree, Heracross along with other ponies set them in trees.

'Nest making and setting - check.' Spike thought as he crossed the first item off the list.

"Glalie, Lapras use Ice Beam." Ash called out so that they could refreeze the lake and the others could start fresh. After some guidance from Twilight PP, the Water Poke`mon, and a few more weather team members went to work.

'Ice skating - check.' Spike thought as he checked another one off the list.

'This does work out a lot better.' AJ thought as she watched as the grass team were in line snow plow, like the one Tauros was pushing was first. Donphan pulling the tiller, and Bayleef planting some seeds behind them. Other members of the Grass team followed their lead.

'Seed planting - check.' The dragon thought as AJ and TS hoof-bumped one another. With some help from Infernape, Sceptile, and Pikachu who tied ropes above the animal homes the next was as easy as pulling on a rope.

'Guess I'm still a little afraid of them.' Twilight thought as she clung to a tree branch for dear life after several snakes slithered out of their hole. Once he checked that off FS winked to the one to signal the sky team.

'There's the signal.' RD thought after hearing a bird call from beneath her. With that Gliscor - using X-Scissor, with Charizard, Garchomp, Pidgeot, Rainbow Dash, and other winged horses easily pulled the gloomy sky and ice covered trees away.

'Snow - check.' Spike thought as he checked another one off. After that it was a team effort by all of Ash's Poke`mon and every citizen of Ponyville as they worked from day till night.

'Hmm? What's that?' Ash thought as he carried a big bag full of apples, but stopped a bit to see what caught his attention, but saw nothing but darkness in all directions. 'Strange.' The aura warrior thought before getting back to work.

'What is it that I saw back in that battle?' The mystery figure thought as she watched Ash walk away and could have sworn she saw something else stand in his place that faithful night. She shelved that thought and went on with her night routine.

"Hey everybody, we're back!" Staraptor and Swellow cawed out as they flew into town with the Southern birds. They were grateful of that, but still had a bit more work to do, so they watered the Earth. Squirtle, Buizel, Totodile, and Kingler ready to refuel the water containers as they watered the Grass.

"Now, this looks like Spring.' Twilight thought as she looked at all the bugs buzzing and the birds singing.

"I can't believe it! Spring is here! On time, and we have you to thank for it. If it wasn't for your organizing skills we would still be arguing." The mayor stated to the Element of Magic while walking up to her.

"Yep!" Big Mac said in agreement which got everyone the to chuckle a bit.

"It was a team effort." TS said back while looking at the ones that made this possible.

"And since you and Ash helped every team we have an official vest for you two." The silver haired woman said as R walked up to TS and AK with the items floating before her. "We give you the titles: All team organizer and All team assister." She informed as the vests were magically placed on them.

"Well, I don't know what to say. Thank you everyone." TS said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, thanks. This is pretty cool." Ash said as he did like the feel of this article of clothing since it fit him so well.

"And here by I declare that Winter is…wrapped up on time." The leader of the small town said to them causing all to cheer in happiness.

"Spike is sure gonna be in for a hog sized surprise when that last piece a ice melts." The cow-girl said to the party animal which caused the Trainer to look at the slumbering scale-belly on the piece of ice before looking at one of his friends.

"Wasn't me." Noctowl stated innocently while trying to avoid his gaze. AK chuckled for a bit, and decided not to be mad at his friends since it was a harmless hypnosis. They all headed to their homes, and there was only one thing on Twilight's mind at the time:

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Winter wrap up was one of the most special things I've ever been a part of here in Ponyville. It helped me to learn that we all have talents, and if we're patient and diligent we're sure to find them. And as always with good friendship and teamwork anyone can accomplish anything."

"How's that, Spike?" TS questioned to the one sitting by the fireplace. "Spike?" She questioned and saw that her little brother went to sleep. "Oh, Spike." She commented before chuckling at how he went back to sleep.


End file.
